Tortured Revenge
by Darth Frodo
Summary: [Sequel to Tortured Truth] Life for Danny is great now his parents know but trouble comes when he can’t go near Valerie without pain. Now he must find a way to avoid her without making her suspicious and still manage to save the town and their friendship
1. Aftermath

A/N: No, you're eyes are not playing tricks on you, this is the sequel to Tortured Truth, finally being posted! I hope you're all as excited as I am! And here's to hoping that I don't disappoint anyone! As always, this chapter is just exposition, so don't expect too much action, but don't worry, it comes soon!

I do have to say though that I'm somewhat nervous, since I really don't want to disappoint anyone. I know sequels are usually known for not being able to live up to the original and I'm trying to do everything possible to prevent that from happening. Still, that doesn't stop the nerves from coming...

Anywho, I hope you really enjoy it!

**Extended Summary**:  
(Sequel to Tortured Truth) Life for Danny couldn't be better now that his parents know about his ghostly activities. They take care of his chores, assist him with his homework, and generally help him out as much as possible, both as a ghost and as a boy. But as life is, with the good comes the bad, in the way of Valerie Grey. Her drive and anger to capture the Ghost Boy have increased tenfold and it's all Danny can do to keep away from her, even with the aid of his parents. But more trouble comes when he suddenly finds he can't get near Valerie without excruciating pain, both as Fenton and Phantom. Now he must find a way to avoid Valerie without arousing her suspicions and still manage to save the town from the ghosts and salvage their quickly deteriorating friendship.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with Danny Phantom. Allison's mine, but I frankly don't care if anyone uses her, so you could technically say I don't own anything...

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Chapter One  
Aftermath

_Alison,  
__Hey, how's it in boring North Dakota? Just kidding. Well, actually, not really. Just thought I'd send you an e-mail letting you know how everything turned out, as promised. We did make it to Wisconsin and with the help of my parents I got not only the device, but the cure as well. Turns out he was the one that gave me the disease in the first place. I should've seen that one coming. But before we left we gave him a little taste of his own medicine! Anyways we made it back to Amity and stopped the invasion (again with the help of my parents) and went home and slept forever!_

_It's been a week since we got back and during that week things have been really good. Tucker's all better and Jazz and Sam are on the mend and though I still feel bad when I see them, I'm getting over it. You were right, it is a lot easier with the help of your family. And I had a lovely little scripted chat with my sister to clear everything up too. Can you believe she spent two hours the previous night writing her speech? And she claims the Fenton weirdness skipped over her…_

_Things are going well with my parents too. Sure, I get to be the test subject for a ghost invention every other day, but things are just so much…easier. I mean, if I need to leave, I can just leave and not have to worry about lame excuses. It really is one of the best things that could've happened._

_So yeah, things are going great here. And I still totally owe you for everything you and your family did for me. None of this would have happened if it weren't for your help, so thank you so so much! _

_Give my regards to your family!  
__Danny_

"Danny, are you up yet? You need to get ready for school!" his mother shouted up the stairs as Danny pushed the send button on his computer.

"Yeah! I'll be in the shower in a minute!" he yelled back as he stood up from his computer and headed to the bathroom. Normally his parents would have to kick and fight and sometimes even threaten him with ghost inventions when he didn't want to wake up, but this morning he was rudely awaken by his ghost sense. By the time he got back to his room it was only fifteen minutes before he had to wake up anyways, so he figured it was pointless to go back to sleep. Then he saw Alison's address by his computer and decided to write her back, telling her everything that had happened since they parted.

As he showered, he thought back to what he'd said in the e-mail. Things had been going well and for the first time since he'd gotten his ghost powers things seemed less complicated. His parents were of course a major help and it really took a lot of stress off his shoulders now that he didn't have to worry about his parents finding out his secret or hunting him. It made not only fighting ghosts easier, but living as well. Now if only Valerie would get off his back…

For some reason for the past week she'd been more vicious in her attacks, showing up to every ghost battle (including the one that morning) and attacking him with more veracity and anger than before. He knew it probably had something to do with the invasion and all the bad publicity she'd been receiving since then. His parents' interview with the news didn't portray her in a very good light, informing the town that she was off trying to find the Ghost Boy instead of helping the town like she should've been doing. Some people were even going as far as comparing Valerie to a ghost, saying that she helped the town out as much as they did and only seemed interested in the Ghost Boy, which didn't make her happy at all. Plus the news polls were now showing an increase in Danny's popularity, which probably only angered her further.

He stepped out of the shower and finished getting ready for school, heading downstairs for breakfast, smiling as he saw a plate of blueberry waffles sitting ready for him at the table.

"We thought we'd give you a break and fix you a treat for breakfast," his mother explained while Danny sat down and poured generous amounts of hot syrup over his waffles.

"What for?" Danny asked, his mouth stuffed with the warm and delicious food.

"We heard you leave for that ghost attack this morning and judging by how long it took for you to get back, Valerie probably showed up."

"When doesn't she show up?" Danny asked bitterly, taking a swig of orange juice.

"This is ridiculous. She is taking this way too far," Jazz stated, drawing her attention away from her book.

"I'll say," Maddie agreed. "I passed her in the store yesterday and she wouldn't even say hi to me. She just gave me an evil look as she passed by."

"I mean, I can kinda understand why she's so mad, since I wasn't too happy when people thought I was the bad guy, but at least I worked to build my reputation back up. She's just concentrating on hunting me more than she did before. I mean this morning she came while the other ghost was still there and never even shot a blast in his direction! I can see why the public doesn't like her at the moment."

"Well I think the best solution is to just keep focusing on the ghost and flying away as fast as you can once it's in the thermos. And only go ghost if you have to," Maddie suggested.

"Easier said than done," Danny stated, but he knew they were right, though he still wasn't happy with having to eliminate his midnight flights. Those were always so calming.

"Alright, finish up your breakfast before you're late to school, and before your father gets up here with his new invention," Maddie whispered. Danny nodded his head and stuffed the rest of the waffle in his mouth while grabbing his books and heading towards the door.

"Bye Mom! See you after school!"

"Bye! I love you!"

"Love you too!" Danny responded as he headed out the door.

"Wait Danny! I wanted to see if…he left didn't he?" Jack asked as he finally reached the living room.

"Yes."

"Aw shucks."

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"So, another fun encounter with Valerie this morning?" Sam asked as she, Tucker, and Danny approached their lockers.

"How'd you know?" Danny asked.

"Please Danny. You're eyes are droopy as are Valerie's, which shows that you either had to get up early or were awakened in the middle of the night and our dear hunter friend decided to join you."

"I think I've been doing this ghost fighting thing for too long. You guys are getting far too good at noticing these kinds of things," Danny remarked.

"Hey Fentonia!" Dash's brusque voice yelled from the end of the hall. Danny sighed as he turned around, Dash striding up to them for their morning ritual. "My brother ate the last of the Wheaties this morning!" he announced.

"And I care…why?" Danny asked.

"Because it's my reasoning for doing this!" he yelled as he grabbed him and shoved him expertly into his locker, shutting the door on him. Dash's buddies cheered as they walked away from the locker laughing.

"Hey, do you think if I stay in here I have an excuse to skip class and sleep instead?" Danny contemplated from inside his locker.

"Doubtful. Everyone in the school knows that you get shoved in there every day and thus should probably be the most proficient student at getting out of it," Tucker remarked.

"Wow, suddenly I feel so special," Danny remarked sarcastically as he tried to maneuver himself out of his locker.

"Hey guys," Valerie greeted, waving as she walked past them before stopping short and looking around. "Where's Danny?"

"Where do you think?" Sam asked as she jerked her thumb towards the lockers.

"Hey, I resent that," Danny muttered from inside the locker as he finally managed to get his leg into a kicking position. He kicked the door open and hopped out. "Hey Val, what's up?"

"Oh nothin'. I was just on my way to class when I saw Sam and Tucker standing by the lockers, without you."

"And why is that bad?" Sam asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I didn't say it was bad, I was just wondering where Danny was since usually you three are stuck at the hips."

"Yeah, except when Dash the surgeon comes," Danny remarked with a smile.

"So, you ready for the biology test today?" Valerie asked Danny.

"Surprisingly yes. My parents actually volunteered to help me last night."

"Ah," Valerie replied curtly. She hated hearing talk of his parents, which of course gave Sam ample opportunities to torture her. The slightest mention of Jack or Maddie Fenton instantly turned her disposition sour.

"What about you?" Danny asked, getting the discussion back on track.

"Oh, well, not really. Didn't really have much time to study."

"Wonder why," Sam remarked under her breath.

"Why?"

"Oh…I just…had to work…a lot…yesterday. By the time I got home, there wasn't enough time."

"Well then, let's hope Lancer's actually feeling charitable today," Danny added, though not sure whether he really meant it. On one hand, he wanted Valerie to fail, to punish her for spending all her free time obsessing over finding him. She probably wouldn't attend school if her father didn't force her to; he was sure she'd rather spend all the time searching for the Ghost Boy, and her attitude in school showed as much. On the other hand, she was still his friend, and he felt bad that she was getting bad grades, all because of him. But more and more, the former feeling was overpowering the latter.

"Yeah, hopefully," she added, though clearly believing that wouldn't be the case.

They stood in awkward silence, not knowing what to say to each other. He'd been finding her increasingly harder to talk to, probably because he spent half his time throwing insults back at her, but that hadn't stopped him before. Still, he just felt this large gap between them and while it had always been there, there were also many bridges, many conversation topics, he could use to cross it. But every time they fought, every time she hurt him, a bridge was destroyed, and soon there wouldn't be any bridges left to cross.

But he'd often wondered what Valerie felt, wondered why she thought the bridges were being destroyed. He knew she had to feel it, she'd have to be numb not to feel it, but unlike him, she didn't know the real reason. Did she think it was just a common falling out between friends? That they'd just run out of common ground? Or did she actually realize that it was her ghost hunting that was putting the strain on their friendship? Or was she just too preoccupied with hunting his alter-ego that she didn't even care? Whatever the reason, they both knew what was happening, and they were both pretending like nothing was wrong.

"Hey Danny?" Valerie spoke up hesitantly. "Can I…ask you a question?"

"Um, sure," he answered, unsure of what she wanted to ask him. Her eyes were downcast and her hands were fiddling with her backpack straps nervously. She looked like she'd been contemplating asking this question for awhile and was probably the real reason why she'd come over to them in the first place.

Danny looked over at Tucker and Sam, knowing that Valerie wanted to talk to only him. They got the message and slunk off silently, heading to class.

She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to speak but then shut it again, still focusing on the ground.

"Valerie?" he asked, trying to urge it out of her. This was obviously important and sensitive to her, a question she wanted to ask but didn't know if she should.

"I just wanted to know…" she started to ask but was interrupted by the bell. "I've got to go to class," she announced hurriedly before waving and running off.

"Stupid bell," Danny cursed as he walked with the other students towards class, wondering what question could be so important that would work Valerie up so badly.

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A/N: (For some reason those dumb lines aren't working...) I'm sorry. I know, it's only my first chapter and I've already got a cliffie ending. I just can't help myself! I'm sorry...

Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed it! Comments are definitely appreciated, be they bad or good...

And thank you for taking an interest in this story!


	2. Mending Bridges

A/N: Praise the Lord it's finally working! Just to let you all know, this would have been up a lot sooner if fanfic wasn't being such an idiot…

And as for the previous chapter, I can't thank you guys enough for all your support and reviews! I really mean it, there aren't enough adjectives in the English language (or any language rather) to convey how absolutely amazing you guys are! I've never had a chapter met with a greater response than this one! You guys rock so much and have totally demolished any trace of doubt or nervousness in posting this! Hugs, kisses, and endless thanks for all of you!

Here's hoping this next chapter will be just as good!

* * *

Chapter Two  
Mending Bridges

"So, what did she want?" Sam asked earnestly before Danny had a chance to sit down.

"Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? She obviously wanted to talk to you about something!"

"Well yeah, but she never said anything. She just stood there and then rushed off quickly when the bell rang."

"Do you think it's got something to do with ghost hunting?" Tucker asked.

"Of course it does. That's all she thinks about anymore. Still, I wonder what it is. Based on her attitude, it's something serious."

"Bring it up at lunch," Tucker suggested. "Then she can't run away from you. She obviously wants to talk to you about this."

"As much as I hate to say it, Tucker's right," Sam agreed. "You need to see what she wants, especially if it concerns you."

Danny nodded his head, their conversation stopping as Lancer entered the room, ready to begin English.

* * *

Valerie avoided him all day, obviously due to her trepidation to ask the mysterious question. He'd see her rush through the hallways, not allowing Danny to stop her and even when they had the same class together she'd sit far from where Danny and his friends usually sat and rushed out of the room before he had a chance to talk to her.

Finally the bell rang, signaling the beginning of lunch. As in all the other classes, Valerie rushed out of class, not making eye contact with Danny. He raced out after her, dashing into a closet and going invisible, flying out after Valerie.

He followed her outside as she walked briskly towards a group of trees, not lifting her gaze from the ground. Danny flew forwards, ducking behind the trees and turned visible, stepping out just as Valerie reached them, looking shocked.

"Look Valerie, enough is enough. You've been avoiding me ever since our conversation this morning."

"How'd you get here before me?" she asked, either not paying attention to what he was saying or just pretending she didn't to avoid the conversation.

"Oh, I ran," Danny answered lamely.

"But how'd you know I'd even be going here?"

"Well, you always eat your lunch here when you want to be alone, so I thought it would be a pretty good guess that you'd be heading here today."

"Oh," she answered quietly, obviously amazed that Danny was so perceptive of her actions. Truthfully the only reason Danny knew this was because he'd been making it a point to know where Valerie was during the school day so he knew what area to avoid when a ghost attacked, but she didn't need to know that.

"So what could possibly be so important to you that you're afraid to ask me?" Danny asked, getting back on topic.

"Oh…that? Oh, that was nothing. There's really no reason to-"

"Val, I'm your friend, you can ask me anything."

She sighed and met his eyes, looking serious. "What do you think of the Red Hunter?"

Danny almost wanted to laugh, but held it in. All this fuss and trouble and all she wanted to know was what he thought of her alter-ego. Although, he could see why it would be important for her, but still, why would she be so afraid to ask him? Would it be because she was afraid she wouldn't like his answer?

But still, how would he answer her? He couldn't tell her that he couldn't stand the Red Hunter and thought of her as the enemy, that would definitely destroy whatever bridges they had left. But still, he didn't want to lie to her, and maybe this was his opportunity to show to her that what she was doing was wrong since obviously talking to her as Danny Phantom wasn't doing any good.

"Um…what do you mean by 'what do you think of her'?" Danny asked, trying to stall and gain more time to consider his options, already knowing full well what she meant.

"Like what do you think of her? Do you believe the stuff the media says, that she's just as good as another crummy ol' ghost?" she explained bitterly.

"Oh, that kind of 'what do you think of her' question. This probably has something to do with my parents' interview, huh?" Danny questioned, again throwing out any question he could find that would stall time.

"Yeah. I just wanted to know if you…felt the same way."

Now Danny could see why it was so important to her to ask him and why things had been stressed between them from her end. She obviously assumed that he agreed with his parents, which of course would make her feel completely awful.

"Well…um…this is hard. Hard to explain I mean. I guess it all starts with Danny Phantom. See, he's kinda a common occurrence in our house because of the portal, especially now because of the truce he's not as afraid to come out more often. He's not evil, I can just tell. All the times he's saved us, all the times he's saved the town, I don't think he's bad. Now I know that's not what this conversation's about," he added quickly as Valerie looked ready to retort "but I think it's a crucial point. See, obviously the feeling towards Danny Phantom will dictate the feeling towards the Red Hunter since they're enemies."

"So you think the Red Hunter's the evil one," Valerie stated dejectedly.

"No, I never said that. I just said that my opinion on Danny Phantom is important to my view on the Red Hunter. I never said they were opposites. Do I agree with my parents that she's spending too much time focusing on Danny Phantom and not on the other ghosts? Yes. Do I think she's as bad as the media's making her out to be? No. I don't think she's a bad person and I certainly don't think she's evil or comparable to a ghost, but I think she just needs to get her priorities straight," Danny finished, noticing that Valerie was looking at the ground. If he didn't already know that she was the Red Hunter he would've been suspicious by her reactions to his comments, but he didn't really think she cared right now. And it probably had something to do with the fact that for some reason or another he was known as the "Clueless One."

"Just a thought, but why is this so important?" Danny asked, smiling slightly, always glad to play on the fact that Valerie doesn't know he knows about her.

"Who said it was important? It's a current debate. It would be like if I asked you what you thought of immigration or some other global issue. I just wanted to know your opinion."

"Um, okay," Danny agreed, though not believing her. All that pain and trouble she went through during the day trying to work up the courage to ask him alone told him it was important to her. It obviously weighed heavily on her to think that one of her few good friends might believe that she was evil. Danny knew he felt the same way about Valerie's feelings towards him.

"Like I said, it was a dumb question. It was just bothering me after I watched the news last night."

"Hey, don't worry about it. If you can't ask your friends a question, who can you ask?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Valerie replied with a smile, the first smile she'd had all afternoon. "Well, thanks for coming to find me. I really appreciate it, but Tucker and Sam are probably waiting for you to join them for lunch."

"Eh, they've got each other to keep themselves company. Unless of course you just want to be alone?"

"No, no, I could use some company," she replied.

Danny and Valerie sat down under the tree and pulled out their lunches, enjoying the shade and each other's company. There they talked about anything that entered their heads, movies, music, making fun of Dash, anything they could think of. It seemed like they'd found a secret alcove with many bridges in which to cross, restructuring the friendship that had been destroyed over the past few weeks. The last time Danny could remember having such a long and enjoyable conversation with her was when they were unofficially dating a few months back.

But finally the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class and the end of their conversation. They walked back into the school while Valerie and Danny argued over the better superhero, a very heated subject for both of them since both of them aimed to live their lives like them.

"I tell you, Spider-man is by far the best!" Valerie argued as they approached the lockers. "I mean, who wouldn't want to climb up walls and swing from building to building?"

"I wouldn't, not when I could actually fly, like Superman. All that web-slinging stuff is just a wanna-be method of flying since he can't actually do the real thing," Danny quarreled back. "I mean flying is so much better! Flying's amazing…so I've heard."

"Well Spider-man can shoot webs out of his hands. Let's see Superman do that!"

"He doesn't need to. He's got heat rays and ice breath that can do the same thing! And don't even get started on the Spidey-sense thing because due to Superman's invulnerability, he doesn't need a Spidey-sense."

"Yeah, but that's the problem with Superman, he's too perfect. I mean, the only way you can hurt him is by Kryptonite. I like a superhero that's not all powerful and has more than one weakness. It's a lot more realistic."

"Who cares about it being realistic? We're talking about superheroes here with superpowers, how unrealistic can you get?"

"Alright, good point. But still, the weakness creates more conflict within the comic book series. And besides, Peter Parker has a much harder life than Clark Kent. I mean, his own friend eventually turns against him."

"So does Lex, who might I add is credited as one of the best super villains ever."

"Well at least Spider-man can get a girl without having to worry about killing her in bed."

Danny opened his mouth to retort but found that there was no response.

"Arguing about superheroes again?" Tucker asked as he and Sam joined them at the lockers.

"I rendered Danny speechless," Valerie boasted, a triumphant smile on her face. "Guess Spider-man is the best after all."

"That doesn't mean he's the best! Sure, he can't get Louis in bed, but at least he's got her, unlike lame Peter Parker who's too shy and embarrassed to go for Mary Jane."

"Danny, what's with the 'lame Peter Parker' comments? I thought you liked him almost as much as Superman?" Tucker asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Oh really?" Valerie asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I never said I liked him as much as, I just said I liked him. Superman is still the best."

"Yeah, yeah," Valerie responded as the warning bell rang. "Well, I guess that's the cue to head off to class. See you later Danny!" she waved as she headed down the hall to her next class, Danny waving back before heading in the opposite direction. "And Spider-man is still the best!" she yelled before darting into her classroom, preventing Danny from having enough time to retort back.

"Well, it seems that went better than expected. I think you've exchanged more words in the past two minutes than in the past few weeks," Sam remarked bitterly, a slight touch of jealousy coloring her tone.

"Yeah, surprising, isn't it? I think it might be because I cleared up her issue with me. She thought I agreed with my parents on the Red Hunter."

"And don't you?" Sam asked as they headed through the door into the classroom.

"Well yes, but I didn't tell her that. I just told her that I thought she was a good hunter but that she spends too much time focusing on Danny Phantom. I mean, that is the truth, isn't it? She'd be a great help if she actually decided to spend some time getting rid of the other ghosts instead of just fighting me all the time."

"Do you think she'll actually take what you said to heart?" Sam asked, sitting down in their usual spots.

"Probably not. But at least I tried."

"Well it sure made Valerie feel better towards the Fenton part. At least you won't have to worry about that," Tucker replied.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Danny replied before their conversation was cut off by their teacher entering the classroom.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by and soon, to the delight of all the students, the final bell rang. Students rushed out the door, flying past their lockers, grabbing their books, and fleeing the school like a plague, rejoicing to be free of their educational prison.

"Man, can you believe all the homework Lancer gave us for Biology!" Tucker complained as he, Danny, and Sam began pulling their books out of their locker. "You'd think we were exceptionally bad in class today!"

"Um, earth to Tucker, we _were _exceptionally bad in class today," Sam reminded him. "Over half the class failed that test, and he still believes that it wasn't even hard and that it was completely up to our level."

"You'd think that if we all failed it he'd realize that we don't know enough for that hard of a test," Tucker remarked.

"Yes, which is why he's assigning us extra homework, so we _do_ know enough!"

"Are you on his side or ours?"

"Oh trust me, I'm not happy about this either, but I can at least understand why he's doing it. Still, this is going to be fun to try and complete. Honestly, if we didn't do the homework before, we're not going to do it now."

"Well we'd better. You heard what Lancer said he'd do to people who didn't come to class with it finished," Danny replied, remembering all to well Lancer's crystal-clear threats that left nothing to the imagination.

"Yeah. Still, how're you going to find the time?" Sam asked.

"I'll just get my parents to do it."

"Why would your parents do your homework?" Valerie asked as she walked up to them.

"Oh, well I didn't mean do it as in they'd actually _do_ it for me, just more like they'll help me do it. They like all this biology stuff."

"Yeah, they probably would," Valerie replied quietly.

"Hey, how'd you do on the test?" Danny asked, trying to tear the conversation away from talk of his parents.

"Horrible. My dad's going to kill me. This is like the fifth test this month that I've failed. I just can't seem to concentrate anymore."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Danny replied.

"How about you?"

"Eh, not much better."

"Didn't you study with your parents last night?"

"Well, if by study you mean they blabbered on about the study topics, changing the topic to ghosts quite frequently, while I stared off into space and hardly paid attention, then yes, I studied, just don't tell my sister."

Valerie smiled. Typical Danny Fenton. Even when he put the time in to study the results were the same. "All right, I probably should be heading home. If I get home now maybe I can clean the house up enough so he'll be a little happier when I try to break the news to him."

"Ooh, not a good idea."

"Why?"

"Then he'll know you're sucking up and will then start yelling at you for wasting your time cleaning instead of studying. Trust me, the best thing to do is to be at home studying when he gets home."

"Really?"

"Trust me. I've done this a lot," he comforted with a smile.

"You know, that doesn't seem to surprise me."

"Oh I know all the breaking the news to the parents tricks. If you ever need any other tips, you know where to find me."

"Thanks. I may just take you up on that offer. Alright, I'm heading out. See you guys later!"

"Bye!" Danny and Tucker waved as she headed down the hall while Sam remained silent, leaning against the lockers, her arms crossed, glaring at Valerie's retreating back.

"Oh, I have a study tip for her, stop this obsessive ghost hunting. That'll improve her grades real fast," Sam remarked while Danny smiled.

"You should tell her that next time," Tucker suggested.

"I should," Sam agreed as the three of them started walking out the school. As they turned the corner and started heading away from the school, Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Danny lamented. "This isn't going to be fun; Valerie would've picked it up on her tracker and is probably waiting for me right now."

"Too bad they couldn't wait until after she got back into her house."

"Yeah, too bad," Danny replied before ducking into the bushes, the white rings of light appearing around his waist, transforming his clothes to a black and white jumpsuit, his blue eyes to glowing green, and his black hair to snow white.

"If I'm not back in twenty, that means Valerie did show up and I'm going to need a distraction," Danny informed them as he floated out of the bushes.

"Okay, just go. Maybe you'll get to it before she does," Sam urged.

Danny flew off towards the ghost while Sam and Tucker just looked at each other.

"So, shall we start planning the distraction?"

* * *

Danny flew invisible through the air, letting his ghost sense guide him. He finally found the source of his problems: the Box Ghost, yet again. It always bothered him when it was the Box Ghost that triggered his ghost sense, but not simply because he was annoying, easy to defeat, and always around, but because it gave Valerie the perfect chance to find him, making the previously easy battles with the Box Ghost now a lot more difficult and complicated.

"Beware! I am the Box Ghost!" he shouted to the people in the streets. Most of them screamed and ran, but many of them just continued to go about their business. Obviously they'd learned that the Box Ghost was no real threat.

"Hey Box Ghost!" Danny shouted, turning visible. The Box Ghost turned around, only to be met by an ecto-blast from Danny's hand. He flew towards him, punching him in the stomach and sending him against a wall, giving him no time to turn intangible. Danny backed up, shot another blast, and then sucked him up into the thermos. Cheers erupted from the remaining crowd while Danny smiled and nodded his head, preparing to fly off when he heard the whirl of an ecto-gun near his head.

"Hold it Ghost Boy."

* * *

A/N: I know, another cruel cliffhanger, but really, aren't you guys expecting these by now? And I wouldn't want to disappoint…

Hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Breaking Bridges

A/N: So, taking a break from writing ASU, I decided to look at this story (which I had planned on writing after finishing the next chapter of ASU) and found that it was almost finished save the end. So, my break from ASU was a lot longer than I had planned, but this chapter is finished. Yay! So, it's a tradeoff, unless you don't read ASU, and then it's just win win!

And sorry about the wait. If you hadn't figured out, I've been spending all my free time (which over the past few weeks has added up to about an hour (no joke)) writing the little bit of ASU that I could, since that hasn't been updated in three weeks...

Anywho, I just wanted to again thank everyone for their resounding support! I'm so excited and glad that you're enjoying this story so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! I've never written a Danny/Valerie fight scene before, so I was kinda making it up as I went along, so let me know if I did or got anything wrong when it comes to Valerie's techniques and/or weapons!

* * *

Chapter Three  
Breaking Bridges

As the crowd cheered Danny's capture of the Box Ghost Valerie leapt out of the alleyway she was hiding in, ecto-gun pointed at the ghostly hero.

"Hold it Ghost Boy," she threatened, satisfaction in her voice.

Of course she had to come. So much for those 'breaking news to parents' tips. He was definitely going to be sure to ask her tomorrow if they worked or not, because right now, it didn't look like she was going to get a chance to use them.

"I should've known you'd be coming. For some reason you just don't want to make fighting ghosts any easier, do you?"

"Once I get rid of you, it will be!"

"And I see you hid in the alley, waiting to attack me when I was distracted with capturing the ghost while you brilliantly ignored the ghost right in front of you, as always. And you wonder why the public doesn't like you."

"Shut up!" she yelled as she shot the gun. Danny quickly ducked his head, knowing the blast would be coming after a taunt like that.

"Ooh, sounds like I struck a nerve," Danny remarked while floating above, dodging another blast from her gun while he smiled. "Maybe you should work on your aim."

She prepped another shot but this time shot a little to the right, where she knew Danny was going to dodge. Sure enough, she hit him square in the arm. He winced from the burn, nursing it with his other hand.

"Why is it everyone always hits me after I say that?" he asked himself before taking off higher, dragging the fight into the air, away from the onlookers.

Valerie kicked her heels, the glider popping out below them. The jets roared to life as she flew up to meet her opponent, ecto-gun propped on her shoulder, ready to shoot at the ghostly menace.

"You won't escape this time Ghost Boy, not after what you've done. I'm through with you turning the town against me!"

"Um, I'm not doing anything, you're doing that yourself."

"Oh yeah, and what do you call that comment down there?"

"That would be stating the truth. You did ignore that ghost and lie in wait for me, you just don't want to admit it. You want the public to start liking you? Stop fighting me and start fighting the real ghost problems."

"Don't even try Ghost Boy. You are the real ghost problem. You may have been able to brainwash the Fentons but you won't brainwash me!"

"I didn't do anything to them, unless of course by brainwashing you mean telling the truth, then yes, I did."

The huntress growled and shot off a blast, Danny creating an ecto-shield to defect the blast. He quickly dropped the shield and started flying off, sensing that the banter was over.

Valerie followed after him, shooting at his fleeing image while he dodged every blast with expert skill, having been forced to endure this almost every day, both from fighting her and from practicing with his parents.

The aerial battle took them all over the town, flying over and around tall skyscrapers as Danny tried to stay as far away from buildings as possible, knowing that every time he dodged a blast it had to go somewhere, and he preferred it to be the open air instead of a building.

Finally Valerie dropped the gun, pulling out instead two smaller ecto-guns that packed just as much power. She held both of them out and started shooting rapid blasts at Danny. He happened to turn around when he noticed two blasts coming towards him, hitting him in the chest. He winced at the pain, but he saw more coming and quickly took off.

Showers of violet blasts rained around Danny as he tried dodging them, many of them hitting their mark. He never recalled her using two before, and he'd never practiced dodging this many repetitive blasts. There was no way he could keep this up without ending up burned to a crisp.

Taking a deep breath he flew up and around, towards Valerie, taking careful aim and shooting his first ecto-blasts of the fight at her, aiming for the guns. He managed to hit and destroy one, but the other hit her hand. He grimaced, knowing that she'd be angry. He quickly flew off while she looked at him, murder in her eyes. She took off towards him, shooting him with her single gun, but it was far easier to dodge now that there was only one. This time he dove down and turned heading towards her again, but underneath this time. As he straightened himself out, he turned invisible.

Not knowing where her opponent disappeared to, the huntress started shooting blasts all over, not knowing that he was sneaking up near her, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take out her last gun. Finally he had a clear aim and shot the blast, this time hitting his target as the blast destroyed the gun in her hands. He flew further away and turned visible.

"Valerie, why are we doing this? Shouldn't we be fighting together?"

"There's no way I'm ever going to fight with you. You just shot at my hand!"

"And I don't think there's a single spot on my body that hasn't been hit by an ecto-blast!" Valerie glared at him. "Alright, that's an exaggeration, but you still get the point!"

"And why should I care if I hit you or not? You're a ghost."

"That's not the point! We have the same goals! We both want to protect the town, get rid of the ghosts trying to hurt it, so why don't we work together?"

"Because _you're_ one of those ghosts," she replied angrily, pulling out another gun and shooting it at him.

"I'm not the bad guy here!" Danny yelled as he dodged the blast.

"Really? Because after everything you've done, I'm kind of thinking you are!" she screamed back as she charged at him, causing Danny to fly off. He knew it was pointless to try and convince her anymore, but he still had to try, not only for his sanity, but for their friendship.

He needed a way out, a way to escape without hurting her, but every time he dared dive down into the city to find an alley, she followed him, not allowing him enough time to hide and transform. Thinking back, aggravating her with comments about her being the bad guy probably wasn't the best idea. She was determined, more so than usual. Something had cracked inside her, and she wasn't going to let him off easily this time. This time, she had convinced herself that she was going to destroy him, and she wasn't going to stop until she had, no matter the consequences.

But where were Tucker and Sam with that distraction? Better yet, where were Tucker and Sam period? Transforming near them would at least provide a more feasible excuse for why Danny Fenton was in the last place Danny Phantom was last seen, since, as she'd so ironically put that morning, they were rarely separated.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by an ecto-blast hitting him in the back, followed by a triumphant cheer from his opponent. He'd been paying too much attention to his thoughts and not enough to dodging the blasts from his attacker.

Then Danny got an idea. He flew into the large building in front of him, causing Valerie to stop before hitting the large glass windows of the building. She looked in through the building at Danny, floating above the cubicles while he looked at her, seeing the hatred in her eyes. They both looked down, looked back at the other, and started diving, trying to race the other to the bottom, to the advantage. But unlike Valerie, he wasn't constricted by the ground and continued diving down into the dirt, changing his direction and flying parallel to the road, briefly poking his head up to see where he was.

Finally his head poked up in an alley, and Valerie was no where in sight. He smiled as he floated completely out of the alley, getting ready to transform and run off down the street, the white rings forming around his waist.

"Oh my gosh, you're Danny Phantom!"

Quickly the white rings disappeared as he turned around and noticed a small boy gazing at him in admiration.

"Um, hi. Listen if you could…"

"Hey guys look! It's Danny Phantom!" the boy yelled loudly to his friends.

"…be quiet," Danny finished. "This isn't good."

Sure enough, not only were a bunch of little boys running towards the alley, but he heard the familiar sound of jet blasts approaching. He saw a small device fly down the alley, coming to a rest near Danny.

"Oh no," he moaned as he tried to fly, but the device still went off, sending a large flash of purple light through the alley, passing through the little boys but sending Danny flying into the wall of the alley, his body smoking from the blast. The boys ran over to him, helping him up.

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"Is there a ghost coming?"

"Are you going to be able to fight it?"

But all the questions stopped as Valerie's silhouette floated in front of the alley, a large ecto-gun resting on her shoulder and pointed at Danny.

"You think you can hide from me Ghost Boy? It's over," she added as she shot the blast, lighting up the entire alleyway.

Danny's eyes went wide, realizing that the blast would hit his little fan club surrounding him. He held his hands up, an ecto dome forming around them, the blast hitting the dome and bouncing off while Danny winced from the pain caused by deflecting it. He dropped the dome and leaned against the wall, panting. He needed to get away from her, and fast.

Valerie dodged the ricocheted blast, returning to her original position, the gun charging up again, ready to blast another, smiling at the amount of energy it took for him to block it.

"Hey you!" one of the boys yelled. "Stop hurting him you meanie!"

"Yeah! He's only trying to protect the town!"

"And you're not!"

Valerie's eyes blazed in anger as she prepped the gun again. This time Danny grabbed onto the kids, phasing them through the ground and flying around below the city while the boys looked on in awe. He finally rose above the cement, coming out onto a street. It was probably far from their houses, but at least they were safe from Valerie's rage.

"Wow, that was awesome!" one of the boys yelled as Danny smiled. He waved and flew off through the city, trying to find Tucker and Sam before Valerie found him.

"Go get her Danny Phantom!" he heard the boys yelling from behind him as he smiled even more. It was nice, after all this time, to hear the sounds of cheering behind him, even if it was from impressionable little boys.

As he flew through the streets a joyful sight met his eyes. He saw two people walking down the street: one with black hair, the other with a red beret. He flew down to them.

"God am I glad to see the two of you," he remarked as they jumped in surprise.

"Danny!" Sam yelled. "Where've you been? We've been looking all over the city for you!"

"All over the city."

"And where's your cell?" Tucker asked angrily.

"Umm…in my backpack."

"Which is?"

"In Sam's hand," he answered sheepishly.

"So whose fault is it that we couldn't find you?"

"Valerie's?"

"Speaking of which…" Sam remarked as all three of them heard the sound of jets approaching.

Sam and Tucker ran off into the nearest alley while Danny turned around to face her. He was ending this now. No more being the nice ghost. If she already thought he was evil, then he wasn't going to waste his time trying to convince her otherwise by running instead of fighting back.

She rounded the corner, ecto-gun blazing, fazed slightly by the sight of Danny facing her, his hands glowing green in front of him. He took careful aim and shot the blasts, taking out one of the jets on her glider, forcing her to spin off out of control, her frustrated yell echoing throughout the city. He flew down into the alley and transformed back into himself, panting heavily.

"You okay?" Tucker asked. "You look tired."

Danny glared at him. "Thank you Captain Obvious."

"You're welcome."

"And where was that distraction?"

"Well, we were the distraction, once we found you of course."

"Next time, find a better distraction, preferably one that doesn't take so long to carry out."

"C'mon, let's get back to the house. Your parents should be able to help you," Sam advised as they started walking back to the Fenton's.

* * *

Valerie stormed into the apartment, throwing her backpack on the ground angrily, not intending to touch it, even though she had homework to do. Right now, homework was the least of her worries. That Ghost Boy had not only beaten her and escaped again, but made a fool of her too. She'd spent an hour after he disappeared searching for him, but she could find no trace of him. Where did he go? Her scanners were never able to pick out a hiding spot and she'd even gone as far as to search the Ghost Zone once or twice for him after he'd gone missing, but no such luck, so where in the world did he disappear to?

As she made her way to the couch she found a note on the table from her father, telling her that he received a call from Lancer about the failed test and that he expected to talk to her after she got home from school, but since she still wasn't home when he left for work, they'd be talking when she got home, and she could tell that wouldn't be pretty.

Trying to calm herself down, she turned on the television, only to find the news covering the day's battle with the Ghost Boy. Despite her better wishes, she decided to watch and hear what they had to say, praying that they'd eventually change their minds about her.

"And today another lengthy battle between Danny Phantom and the Red Hunter ravaged the streets, and skies, of Amity this afternoon. Here are just a few clips of the heated battle."

An array of clips played across the screen, showing her shooting the Ghost Boy with her guns, her stray blasts shooting buildings, and even snippets of her argument with the infamous pain in her side. All of them, she noted, were illicitly chosen to make her look bad. Not a single one of them showed him hitting her, but then she realized with a jolt that he had only hit her twice, once when he missed trying to disarm her, and once when he knocked out the glider.

Her eyes narrowed in anger. He was doing it on purpose. He was purposefully avoiding hitting her so the city would think that he was the innocent ghost who was just trying to save the town while she, the bad guy, was hurting him while he never attacked back.

"This was another battle that further shows the Red Hunter avoiding other ghosts and simply going after Danny Phantom, who still refuses to attack her in return, instead wishing to join forces to protect the town. We can only wonder how long it'll take for the Red Hunter to realize her mistake and start protecting the town instead of destroying it trying to capture one innocent ghost. Now to Rick with Sports."

She threw herself onto the couch, screaming out her frustration into the pillow. Why was all this happening to her? Why couldn't her life turn around? As hard as she tried, things only seemed to get worse for her. She couldn't capture the Ghost Boy, the public was starting to believe his lies, she was being portrayed as the bad guy, her grades were dropping, and now she was in trouble with her father for being out ghost hunting instead of studying, again. Why couldn't she just get a break?

She sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. It was all the Ghost Boy's fault. If it weren't for him, none of this would have happened. It wasn't so much making her a ghost hunter, because strangely enough that was one of the most liberating things that could have happened to her, though she wouldn't tell him that, but by just being him. If he wasn't around, if she could just capture him, she wouldn't be spending every waking moment trying to capture him, she'd have good grades, she'd have the public support.

Everything, all her problems, came down to the Ghost Boy.

Her eyes flickered to the hall closet, an evil smile grinning across her face. She pulled it out of the closet and opened it, looking for the second time at the package inside, rereading the note.

_For the perfect revenge on the one you hate the most._

She took the note out, again reading the instructions, smiling even wider at the possibilities, at the joy it would bring. She clasped the invention around her wrist, marveling at the brilliance, the simplicity of it.

Finally, the Ghost Boy would be hers, and finally, her life would be as it should.

Ghost Boy free.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, another cliffy... 


	4. The Pain of Silence

A/N: Man, I did it again. I made you guys wait a month for another update. I feel really horrible...though two weeks of that really don't count, since I forbid myself from the computer during those two weeks due to awfully horrific midterms, so really you can't blame me for those two weeks...that would be directed at my professors, and you can blame and scream at them all you want, because I really want to too... Where did Dan go...?

Alright, and now for some shameless self promotion: the first LDPP was finally posted right before I went on my computer hiatus! Woot! So if the sound of it tickled your fancy, please check it out! I promise they'll be very good and insightful!

Oh, and good news. Midterms are over, which means there can't possibly be anything heavily school related for awhile, since I had a test in every single freakin' class. And I also quit my job (woot!) so now my weekends are free, which is what let me get this chapter out finally! So, start expecting more frequent updates! Woot!

And the usual huge thanks to all my reviewers! I love you guys!

And I just wanted to let you know that this chapter, though it might seem it, is _not_ filler. While this story may be more centered on Valerie and Danny's relationship, it is still, first and foremost, the sequel to Tortured Truth, and thus also about his relationship with his parents in lieu of the previous story's events. So, this chapter is just going back to that, showing Danny's relationship with his parents now that they aren't in the "finding out phase" like they were last story and seeing how they now live their daily lives knowing that their son is part ghost and how Danny deals with them knowing. Of course it's done in a funny manner, but still, that's generally the point…

* * *

Chapter Four  
The Pain of Silence

"Danny? Is that you?" Maddie's voice called from the basement as she heard the front door open.

"Yeah, I'm home!" he yelled down, throwing himself onto the couch in exhaustion while Sam grabbed the first aid kit from under the coffee table.

"It's almost four! Where have you been?" she yelled back up.

"Take a guess."

Maddie walked into the living room, her suspicions confirmed at seeing Sam unpacking the first aid kit. "Valerie?"

"Of course. It's probably on the news. It was all over the city."

"I hope you didn't destroy anything," she replied as she turned on the television before sitting near Danny, grabbing a dark green vial and shaking it before handing it to him, the contents glowing brighter as they reached him. He took the vial and went ghost, uncorking it and drinking the liquid down, making a face before turning back to his human form. This was a common practice now, since his parents had developed the ghost energy extract. There were phials of it in every first aid kit in every room in the house, two in the basement. It was just like taking vitamins now, drinking a phial before every patch up or after every exhausting battle. This time counted for both.

"I didn't destroy anything," Danny defended as he pulled his shirt off, all too familiar with the routine. "She did."

Maddie shook her head at the bruises and burns as she started applying the Fenton Ecto-Blast Burn Cream, a recent development designed especially for ecto-blast wounds. "Well let's hope they don't blame you for it."

"They shouldn't. They were cheering me after I caught the Box Ghost."

"Who wouldn't? It's a public service to get him off the street," Sam remarked, trying too look everywhere but Danny's shirtless chest.

Danny smiled. "Yeah, and then there were these little kids who-ouch! What was that?"

"You've got a really nasty cut on your back. I just ran a sanitary wipe across it. Continue."

"Anywho there were these little kids who kinda blew my hiding spot, but they were really cute because they started insulting Valerie and calling her a 'meanie' and stuff. It was really cute. 'Course then she was willing to hurt them to get to me and that wasn't cool, but they were all cheering me on, it was actually really nice."

Maddie smiled in pride. "Oh sweetie, that's wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

"Yeah, well-ouch! Will you stop rubbing that across it? I think it's clean."

"Wow Danny, you're a baby," Tucker teased.

"I am not! I'm perfectly fine when I get the cuts I just don't like the alcohol."

"Danny boy! You're home!" Jack shouted as he ran up the stairs from the basement and into the living room. "I missed you this morning. Boy have I got—"

"Jack, please, Danny just got back from a fight with Valerie and is exhausted. He needs to rest."

"That's okay, he doesn't need to do anything!"

"Jack, I just don't—"

"Danny, start talking."

"Why?"

"Just do it. Just blather on about something," he instructed as he started fiddling with a small metallic object.

"I don't blather, that's your job. You're the one that once he gets on a subject never stops and just talks forever and ever, not caring that—" Danny's complaints were silenced by Jack pushing a button on the device, a pulse emanating through the room, jostling everyone, and everything, in it.

"Jack, what was that?" Maddie demanded.

Danny was about to ask the same question and in fact he did, but no one seemed to notice due to the fact that no sound emerged from his mouth as he spoke. His mouth would move, he would stress and vibrate his vocal chords, but no sound came out.

_What the crap did that stupid invention do to me?_ Danny mouthed, fully intending to shout it to the room, but of course he made no noise.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Sam asked, seeing Danny's mouth moving but no sound coming out of it, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

_That stupid invention did something!_ Danny mouthed again in anger.

Jack's face lit up in joy. "It worked! It worked!"

"Jack Fenton what did you do?" Maddie demanded, turning quickly to face her husband.

"I call it the Specter Silencer!" he announced, holding it above his head in triumph. "It renders a ghost speechless, and it works!"

_You've got to be kidding me_ Danny mouthed with a sigh, falling down onto the couch.

"Maybe it's a good thing he missed you this morning Danny," Tucker stated. "Otherwise you'd have to go through school without being able to talk."

"No he wouldn't, because there's a reversal switch to this, right Jack?" Maddie asked, fixing him with an evil glare.

Jack looked blankly at her, blinking a few times, not understanding what she was saying.

"Jack, the reversal switch? The one to give Danny back his voice?"

Comprehension dawned on the portly inventor. "Oh, that reversal switch! There isn't one."

Danny sat up, glowing eyes glaring at his father.

"Jack Fenton, what did you say?" Maddie demanded angrily.

Jack's confidence faltered. "Um…there isn't one?" he finished in a question, asking her whether it was the answer she wanted to hear.

"And why not?" she threatened.

"Well why would you want to give a ghost his voice back? It would defeat the purpose of taking it in the first place!"

Danny fell back down onto the couch while Tucker and Sam just stared at Jack in disbelief, Maddie looking like she was about ready to hurt someone, specifically her brainless husband.

"Because you were planning on testing this on your _son_ who _needs_ to have his voice back!" Maddie practically screamed.

"Oh, right...didn't think of that…"

"Of course you didn't, because that would require intelligence, which you seem to be lacking!"

"Don't worry, I can fix it!"

"You'd better," Maddie threatened.

"Right. Um…I'll just…I'll just be in the basement," he stated in a rush, heading into the kitchen. Before heading down the stairs he poked his head back into the living room. "So does this mean I can't try out the new, improved version of the Specter Deflectors?"

"Jack Fenton!" Maddie yelled.

"Right." He disappeared into the kitchen, his loud steps heard pounding down the stairwell, Danny watching the doorway to the kitchen in disbelief and frustration.

"Danny, I'm sorry about this," Maddie apologized, placing her hand on his shoulder. "We'll fix it, don't worry. If there's a way to make it happen, there's a way to reverse it." Danny nodded his head in response. "Obviously that speech I gave him after the Specter Shrieker incident wasn't clear enough to penetrate his thick skull. But I'll keep trying. I just have to try a different approach, one that speaks his language."

_Maybe you should write it on a cookie_ Danny suggested, his mother looking at him, trying to read his lips.

"What are you trying to say?" she asked.

_Maybe you should write it on a cookie _he repeated while Maddie watched his mouth carefully.

"Wait, say it slower, I'm not that good at lip reading."

Danny rolled his eyes. _Maybe you should write it on a cookie_ he mouthed slowly, everyone now staring at his mouth.

"Hold on, I think I've got it," Tucker remarked, Danny mouthing _Thank God_. "You want to ride on a boogie?"

Danny shook his head, rolling his eyes in frustration.

"Tucker, that doesn't even make any sense," Sam informed him.

"I know, but that's what it looks like he's saying."

_Just forget about it, it's not worth it. It wasn't even that important anyways_ Danny mouthed as he crossed his arms. This was getting far beyond annoying.

"Wait Danny, slow down!" Maddie requested. "We can't keep up!"

"Yeah dude, we're not lip readers," Tucker replied.

_Obviously_.

"Go back to the first one again."

Danny sighed as he hit himself in the face with a pillow from the couch.

"This is ridiculous, hang on," Sam stated as she got up and left the room, returning with a pad of paper and a pen, handing it to Danny. "Write it down."

"Oh, that…would be a lot easier," Maddie agreed as her face blushed slightly. "Why we didn't think of that in the first place is beyond me…"

_You were having too much fun trying to annoy me _Danny wrote, holding up the pad of paper for all to see.

"Now Danny, you know that's not the reason," Maddie argued, crossing her arms.

_Yeah, but it still worked_.

Maddie sighed. "Now, what were you trying to say before dear?"

_It doesn't really matter. It lost its wittiness._

"I know, but now it's bothering me."

He sighed as he wrote the phrase down again, his mother smiling as her curiosity was finally satisfied, finding the answer to her toils.

"Dude, that's so not what it looked like," Tucker complained as he read the phrase on the page.

_It's not my fault you can't read lips_ Danny scribbled, already annoyed with being forced to write everything out, but then again, it was better than the unproductive guessing game.

"Alright, I'm going downstairs to help your father, see if I can speed things along. Do you need anything?"

_My voice._

"Very witty young man."

_I try._

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Anything else?"

_Twenty bucks?_ he wrote, his eyes hopeful.

"I assume that's a no. Holler if you…come and get me if you need anything."

Danny nodded his head as his mom headed down into the basement, Tucker and Sam staring at him, the room filled with silence.

Danny picked up his pad of paper, his only method of conversation with the world at the moment, and started writing. _You guys can go if you want. Nothing much is going to happen here if I can't talk._

"Nonsense Danny, we'll stay here with you," Sam stated.

"Yeah, we're having fun watching you get annoyed," Tucker remarked with a smile while Danny glared at him.

"Tucker, that's not helping. The point is, we can still do stuff without you talking."

"Yeah, like watching movies and playing video games!" Tucker cheered.

"Besides, Tucker talks enough for two people anyways."

"Hey!"

_That's true…_

"Wow, feelin' the love in this room…"

"Jack Fenton what is that?" an outraged Maddie yelled from the basement, the three teens hearing it clearly from the living room. "That better not be another weapon you wanted to test on Danny!" A pause filled the house, in which Jack was probably mumbling a response to his furious wife. "It does _what_? Jack Fenton what were you thinking! No, don't answer that! I already know the answer: you weren't!"

"Wow, wonder what it could possibly be to make your mom so pissed," Tucker remarked after the yelling had died down.

_In the mood she's in right now, it could be as harmless as a ghost tracker and she'd blow up on him._

"But is it as harmless as a ghost tracker?" Sam asked.

_Knowing my dad, no._

"Well it can't be worse than the Specter Shriekers, or this for that matter," Tucker comforted.

_Oh believe me, it can. Two words: Fenton Paralyzer._

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that one…"

_Believe me, I haven't. The Box Ghost still hasn't stopped laughing about it._

"How long were you paralyzed for again? Five hours?"

_Seven._

"Ouch. You know, I think I'm beginning to see why you never told your parents."

_Ya think? I mean, I know it's a small price to pay after everything they've been forced to accept, but still…_

"You just wish it would be a little less frequent," Sam completed.

_Yeah._

"Or less annoying."

_That too._

"Don't worry Danny. It'll cool down later. They're just excited about it right now, but give them a few weeks and things'll start to die down as they realize they don't need to keep making inventions just to make them," Sam comforted. "I mean, you have to think of it from their perspective, after all this time they're finally learning that their inventions work, so of course they're going to go on an inventing spree."

_I know. That's the only reason why I tolerate it, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it._

"Oh I never said that," she replied with a smile, Danny smiling back.

"So, who's up for some video games?" Tucker suggested. Both Sam and Danny indicated that they were interested, Sam through verbal assertion while Danny responded through a vibrant nod, the two friends smiling at him, even in his misfortune.

They bolted upstairs, entrancing themselves with the video game while Maddie and Jack worked furiously downstairs, trying to find the cure to their son's malady.

* * *

"Danny! We did it! Come down to the basement!" his proud mother shouted.

Immediately Danny leapt up from the gaming consul, not caring that his character had just been killed by Tucker's. They had just said the words he'd been waiting all afternoon to hear. He turned intangible and dove through the floor until he reached the lab, his parents smiling as they saw him turn solid on the floor amongst the various pieces of metal and tools they had thrown about the floor in their rush to give Danny back his voice as soon as possible.

_I'm here. Where is it?_ he mouthed, a wide, expectant smile on his face, like a child ready to open his first Christmas present.

"What did you say?" Jack asked.

_Where is it?_ he repeated, having a sinking feeling he knew where the conversation was going to end up, mainly nowhere as they tried to figure out what he was trying to say.

Maddie sighed. "Where's your pad of paper?"

Danny looked down at his empty hands, noticing that he left his means of communication on the floor of his bedroom in his rush for the cure. He smiled apologetically at his parents while Maddie rolled her eyes.

"How are we supposed to know what you're trying to say then?"

Danny waved his hands in front of him, trying to gesture that it wasn't important. He pointed to the Specter Silencer on the table, hoping they'd get the point.

"You want us to use the invention on you now?"

_You know, a 'well duh' comment would fit really nicely here…_

"Danny, we still don't—"

Danny just shook his head, waving his hands in front of him to again let them know it's not important.

Pounding steps were heard down the stairs as Tucker and Sam ran down, accompanied by a very angry Jazz.

"Tucker and Sam told me what happened this afternoon," she stated angrily as she entered the lab, crossing her arms as she glared at her parents, namely her father. "How could you be so stupid?"

"Jazz, now is not the time," Maddie replied. "We can both yell at him later, but we were just going to try out the reversal on Danny and see if it works."

_If it works?_ Danny asked, a shadow of worry creeping across his face.

Again, Maddie sighed in frustration. "Tucker, Sam, you didn't happen to bring Danny's pad of paper with you did you?"

"Uh, no," Tucker replied.

"Darn it. I still don't know what he's trying to say."

Again Danny shook his head and waved his arms. He stretched his arms out wide open, indicating for them to shoot at him.

"Now Danny, we don't know if this'll work or if it'll have any negative consequences…"

Danny pulled his arms in a little and spread them out again, his face resolute. Maddie nodded and pushed the button, the same sonic pulse sweeping through the room, jostling everything in it, making Danny fall over and land hard on his back.

"Ouch," he complained as he stood up, his face brightening as he heard his own voice. "I can talk? I can talk!" he cheered. "Yes! I can talk, I can talk, I can talk I can talk I can talk!" he started chanting in a sing-song voice, the pain in his back long gone as he celebrated the sound of his voice.

"Oh praise the Lord," Maddie remarked as she fell into a nearby chair, exhausted from the day's efforts.

"See, I knew everything would work out in the end," Jack stated with a proud smirk on his face. "Now can we test out the new version of the Specter Deflectors?"

"No!" everyone shouted vehemently.

"Aww."

* * *

Danny lay in his bed, trying to fall asleep, but too much had happened that day to let his mind rest enough to sleep, even though he was exhausted beyond belief. What with the battle with Valerie earlier and the exhausting efforts with the Specter Silencer, it had just been a very tiring day.

Of course it probably didn't help that after he got his voice back he went upstairs and, instead of resting like he knew he should have, he spent the rest of the night playing video games with Sam and Tucker, chatting away about really nothing at all; it just felt good to hear the sound of his voice and actually get his witty remarks across without ending up lost in translation. He wouldn't even head downstairs to listen to both his mom and sister pound his father with new rules and regulations when it came to testing ghost inventions on him because he'd have to stop talking long enough to listen, and he couldn't stand being silent for that long that soon. Although he could hear most of it from upstairs, at least enough to know that said regulations mostly consisted of a chain of approval of his mother and sister before Danny could even be approached, and then he himself had to approve it. Of course it was unclear as to how long this was actually going to last or whether it would actually weed out the dangerous or annoying inventions, but it was at least a start.

And then after Tucker and Sam had to leave because it was getting too late, he actually went into Jazz's room, chatting away to her about practically nothing as well. He could tell he was annoying her because while his sister was smart and insanely good at multi-tasking, she wasn't good enough to read her psychology book, outline yet another thesis idea, and listen to and support her talkative brother at the same time. But she still listened to him, probably because she understood his reasoning for wanting to talk so much. Still, eventually she kicked him out of her room, claiming that she needed to go to bed and that he probably should as well, though when he went to the bathroom he could see a faint light underneath her door indicating that she clearly wasn't going to bed and it was just an excuse to get rid of him so she could do her reading, but he was okay with that. Besides, she did have a point, he did need to go to sleep and he wanted to go to sleep, but the only problem was that he couldn't.

He debated talking to his parents, since they were still in the basement, his father probably trying to make a version of the Specter Deflector that _would_ pass through the chain of approval, but he decided against that. His mother would probably start to think that the reversal switch they quickly engineered did more than just the reverse and made him unable to stop talking, which wasn't true since he was fully capable of not talking, it's just that he really didn't want to…

So there he lay, in his bed, staring at the glow in the dark stars on his ceiling, as he tried to calm his mind down enough to sleep, though he was continuously failing. As soon as he pushed one thought into the back of his mind another one took its place; it seemed like a never-ending cycle.

And yet the one thought he couldn't get out of his head was Valerie. He kept thinking back on their interactions that day, the awkward actions in the morning, the blissful bonding at lunch, and then the fatiguing fight later that day. Why was it that every time he saw her the interactions between them were different? Why couldn't she just be predictable? Even in the ghost hunter mode she was unpredictable. There were some days where it seemed like she didn't care as much and he could hide easily without her chasing after him like a madman. And then, there were days like today, where he didn't get a break, where she looked like she wanted to kill him, and probably could if he let his guard down.

But why was she all of a sudden after him so much in the first place? She'd always been after him, but not like this. Sure she would hunt him, shoot at him, try and succeed in hurting him and there would always be this underlying anger at him for their history, but it still seemed like she was holding back, like she wasn't giving it her all, just like he wasn't. It wasn't like she wanted to destroy him, she just wanted to hurt him, to make him suffer like he made her suffer. But today…

Today she had passion and fury. Today, she looked like she wanted to kill him, destroy him, enough to risk the lives of the innocent boys around him. Something had fallen off the shelf inside her, changed her attitude towards him. He figured it had something to do with her anger at him and the new reversal of the public views on the two of them, but still, was that enough to enact this rapid of a change in her?

Maybe it was just everything, piled on top of each other, until it became such a large mass that she couldn't take it anymore and cracked under the strain. There was a lot going on in her life, the economic problems, the ghost fighting, the slipping grades, the physical exhaustion, the pressure of the public opinion, he knew what it all felt like, but he at least had people to lean on. He had Tucker and Sam to help keep him cheery and reasonably stress free, Jazz to help him with the grades, and now his parents to help him with the public and, at times, the fighting. He had people to support him, to keep him sane, to prevent him from cracking, taking some of the mass from his back onto their own. She had nobody. Sure she had her father and he was sure he helped as much as he could, but she really had nobody that would take enough of the mass off to make a difference. She still cracked.

But despite all that, he still couldn't help feeling a little bitter towards her. She did have friends who would be there for her, if she trusted them. Danny Fenton would always be there for her, and Danny Phantom was willing to be there for her too, if she would just learn to trust him. Ceasing her continuous hunting of him would definitely not only take a load off her back, but his as well. She may not have as much help as he does, but that was her choice. She could have allies in both of his personalities, if she would just let them in and trust them.

But there was nothing more he could do for her. If she didn't want to let him in, that was her problem. He was there for her, and let her know it multiple times, as both Fenton and Phantom. If she didn't want to trust him and lean on him, it was her problem, and there was nothing more he could do about it.

Still, he wished there was…

* * *

Danny woke up from the harsh noises of his alarm the next morning, surprised to see that it was in fact morning. He couldn't remember even falling asleep, and he still felt so tired that he didn't think he really did. The only thing that convinced him otherwise was the bright sunlight flooding into his room that definitely wasn't there the last time he could remember.

He groaned as he got up, knowing that if he didn't now, his parents would come in later with a ghost invention to force him up, and after yesterday's experiences with ghost inventions, he wasn't too keen on going through it again, no matter how much he didn't want to get up. The Specter Shriekers were still in the house somewhere…

Soon he found himself downstairs at the kitchen table, showered and dressed, with only a vague memory of getting there. If there was one thing he excelled at, it was getting dressed and ready for school quickly and while still half asleep. He dropped his head onto the table, closing his lead-filled eyes blissfully. Of course it didn't last long, as his mother's voice jerked him out of his nearly asleep state.

"Danny, you look like the dead…well, more dead than usual at least."

"Ha ha," he replied, not moving his head from its resting position on the table.

"Was there a ghost last night?"

"No, I just couldn't sleep. My mind was just wouldn't shut down."

"Ah, because if it was a ghost you know that we've offered to take care of them at night so you can get your sleep right?"

"I know, and trust me when I say I plan to take you up on that offer, but unless fighting ghosts for me can make me stop worrying about Valerie, then I don't think I'll be getting any more sleep for awhile."

"Yes, I should have known that was what was keeping you up," she replied fondly, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Sweetie, you know that you can't do any more than you're doing already."

"I know. Believe me, I spent the better part of the night telling myself that, but it still doesn't help. You didn't see her yesterday; she actually wanted to kill me. It was more than revenge it was _hatred_."

"Sweetie, I know it's hard, but you just have to get used to the fact that no matter how hard you try you can't make her like you and that her feelings towards you have nothing to do with your actions. You haven't personally done anything wrong to her. It's all her perceptions of the events, and if she won't look past them by now, she's never going to, no matter how much you want it."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it."

Maddie smiled sympathetically. "I know sweetie. My only advice is to just make your time with Valerie as enjoyable as possible and don't let the thoughts of her alter-ego drag down your conversations with her, because you're not going to get anywhere with her as Phantom."

Danny sat up and smiled. "Yeah, I know. But still, I shouldn't be forced to make that distinction."

Maddie gave him a hug. "You're right, you shouldn't, but that's just the way it's going to be, and you have to learn to work around it."

"Thanks Mom."

"You're welcome dear. Now, I think you need to head off to school, otherwise you're going to be late. Actually, you're already late…"

"What?"

"The bus left five minutes ago."

"_What_?" Danny screamed, jumping up, his body suddenly filled with energy. He grabbed his backpack and went ghost. "Bye Mom, love you!"

"Love you too!"

He turned intangible and flew out of the house, racing towards school, and remarkably beating the bus there, but only just barely. Why he didn't just fly to school every day was beyond him, though finding a spot to change back was always difficult. He managed to find an empty bathroom and changed in there, walking out and heading to his locker, waiting there patiently until Tucker and Sam arrived.

"Dude, where were you?" Tucker asked.

"Running late," came his simple response, both friends nodding with complete understanding.

"Well at least you were able to make it on time."

"Yeah, somebody remind me why I don't always fly to school? I get five extra minutes _and_ don't have to ride the bus."

"Because Valerie usually finds you," Sam reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, I knew there was a good reason why I didn't…"

"Speaking of Valerie, here comes the devil."

"Sam, that's not very--aah!" Danny cried as he leaned against the locker, his face screwed up in pain as he started doubling over.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Sam asked her face urgent, standing in front of him to hide him from the now interested eyes.

"I-I don't know," he panted, screwing his face up tighter to avoid screaming out in pain. It was all over his body, burning his skin, cramping his muscles, frying his insides. It continued to grow in intensity, his eyes leaking out tears from the pain, his jaw clenched to avoid screaming.

"Sam, you've got to get him out of here. This is ghost related, it has to be," Tucker whispered to her. She nodded her head and grabbed Danny under her arm, running through the hall, searching for an empty classroom as Danny's legs dragged along, barely able to exert any control or energy because of the pain.

Tucker watched in fear as his pained friend was carted off down the hallway while he remained behind for damage control. He didn't like this, not at all. What could be causing him so much pain? There wasn't a ghost around, so what was the source?

"Hey Tucker, what's wrong with Danny?"

* * *

A/N: Groan, did I put a Heart of Darkness reference in there? (double checks) Groan, yes I did…stupid book… If you're able to spot it, I'm sorry, because then that means that you were forced to read that monstrosity…and if not because you've never read it, consider yourself fortunate beyond belief...

And I know, evil cliffy...you all shouldn't be surprised. I could have ended this a lot earlier, but there was no way I was passing up this loaded of a cliffy!

Anywho, hope you liked it!


	5. Torturous Paranoia

A/N: I don't think I will ever be able to apologize enough to even make up for the lapse in time since my last update. I could repeat "I'm so so sorry!" for the rest of my life and I still don't think I'd be able to make it up to you V.V But I really, truly, am sorry.

And I think it's just important to note that it wasn't writers block or lack of direction or anything like that that kept me from updating this chapter. Trust me, I definitely have ideas, five whole pages of notes in a Word doc to be exact including a chapter by chapter breakdown and even paragraphs and lines that I plan on using. Writers block wasn't the issue. So what was? Time. Something so small and yet so difficult to work around. I just finished the worst semester of my entire school year and I'm surprised I actually survived honestly. But I unfortunately had to put some things on hiatus and fanfiction was one of them because while it's amazingly fun, it is immensely time consuming.

Anywho, I do have a few notes before you get to the chapter, since I haven't seen any of you for like ever since either I don't know if you're on dA (if you are tell me and I'll immediately watch you!) or you're just not on it. Also, I promise to get back to replying to reviews for other stories in due time.

And speaking of new stories, I don't know how many noticed but I was hit (okay, beaten) by my muse to write a short one-shot that had been bothering me and she wouldn't let me study until I did. It's in a new series I put up called Tales of Discovery, dealing with revelations. So if you're interested in revelations of Danny's secret, which I assume you are if you're reading this XD, then please check it out!

And…that's enough, otherwise my A/N will be as long as the chapter! . You've been waiting long enough without me rambling on. So I hope you enjoy it, even if I'm not too happy with it…

* * *

**Chapter Five  
Torturous Paranoia**

Sam rushed Danny through the eyes of the crowd and down the hall, practically dragging him away. He remained bent over, his legs barely able to move because the pain was too unbearable. He clenched his jaw, trying to overcome it, trying not to make a scene, but the pain was excruciating.

She finally came upon an empty classroom, quickly pushing some desks together as she laid him across them, her face creased in worry as she watched him curl into the fetal position, tears streaming from his eyes. His knuckles turned white as he clenched onto his arms, trying to use the pressure as a siphon to divert the pain.

"Danny, I know you think this is a stupid question, but I have to ask: are you all right?" she asked, stroking his hair in comfort.

He nodded his head meekly. He did feel slightly better now. He no longer felt like he was continuously being stabbed by white-hot knives, only feeling the dull throbbing, an echo of the agonizing pain that had been there only moments ago.

"Are you sure?" she asked, still not feeling comforted. She knew Danny's tendency to lie about pain to make others feel better.

"Y-yeah," he replied. "It-it's not as bad as…as before," he told her, managing a weak smile while color returned to his knuckles as his body relaxed.

"What happened?"

"I-I don't know. But it hurt. A lot. It was like…like when I was electrocuted by my parents. Just the…the burning and the cramping it just…it felt like the machine again."

"But how? I mean, it's been a long time since the torture. If you were going to experience any after effects you should have had them already!"

"I guess…" he replied, wincing as he turned on the desks, lying flat and closing his eyes. Well the motion test obviously failed, because that had hurt. He was so sore his muscles ached just to be used for even the most miniscule of movements.

"Maybe it was a new weapon of Skulker's?" Sam suggested. "He could have put some kind of bomb in your locker that sent out electric pulses or something."

"That would be a good theory, except that my ghost sense didn't go off."

"Well what if he was out of range?"

"He's never out of range for one of his traps. He wants to see me get caught. Plus he would have swooped down on me while I was out. What's the point in just causing me pain?"

She sighed in defeat. "Alright, good point. It could be a new ghost then," she suggested, but dropped the train of thought at Danny's look. "But your ghost sense didn't go off so it's just totally an irrelevant thought."

"Glad you're finally starting to get the picture."

"But then what caused this?"

"I don't know," he admitted, sitting up with a groan.

"Danny, what are you _doing_?" she practically shrieked.

"Heading to class," he moaned, sliding himself off the desk, wincing at the resurgence of pain in his sore muscles.

"Danny, are you mentally unhinged? You were just in the hallway practically screaming your head off and you want to go to class?"

"No, I don't want to, but I have to. I don't know what happened and while I want to find out, no good's coming from sitting in here. And while I'm definitely in no mood to go to class, not going would draw suspicion and I don't want that enough to suffer through class."

She sighed in defeat, knowing he had a point. "Fine," she agreed unwillingly, grabbing his backpack. "But I still don't like this. And we need an excuse."

"No point," Danny grunted, taking a deep breath and heading to the door, hiding his pain as he took slow yet firm steps. "Tucker's probably devising one right now, we'll just hear what he came up with."

Sam eyed him as she cocked an eyebrow. "You actually trust him to come up with an excuse?" she asked as she followed him out the door, watching him nervously.

"No, but he's got to say something," he replied, his eyes watering as he continued to try to hide the pain as he trudged through the halls, each determined step sending shots of pain through his sore muscles.

"Let's just hope he doesn't say something stupid."

* * *

"Hey Tucker, what's wrong with Danny?" Valerie asked as she watched Sam drag the tearing Danny quickly through the crowd. She stepped forward, wanting to follow, but Tucker stepped in front of her. 

"Danny? Oh he's fine. He's…he's totally fine. Why do you ask?" he asked with a fake smile. God, why was he the one stuck thinking up an excuse?

"Why do I ask? Tucker, did you not just see the same thing I did?"

"What? That? That…that was nothing."

"Nothing?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips, clearly not believing him.

"Nope, nothing. Charlie horse," he lied as inspiration struck.

"A Charlie horse?

"Yup. Poor Danny's been working out a lot to try to get into better shape and he got a really bad Charlie horse."

"You can get Charlie horses from working out too much?"

"Yeah. You didn't know that?"

"I have to say it's news to me…"

"Oh, well you can. Danny had it all last night and obviously it didn't go away as he slept. But give him a few minutes and he'll be good as new." _I hope…_

"But…why cart him off like that for something as simple as a Charlie horse?"

God, did she ever stop asking questions? "Because Sam's really good at getting the pain to go away, but since it's in his back he doesn't really want to be massaged in public. Imagine the rumors _that_ kind of action would generate, especially since everyone already believes it…"

Valerie scowled, never liking talk of Danny and Sam together as a couple. "Fine whatever. I'm going to class," she replied, heading off to class clearly unsatisfied while Tucker breathed out in relief. He was hoping the talk of Danny and Sam would distract her from Danny being in pain because it was obvious to everyone in the school that Valerie still liked him. Well, everyone save the infamous man of the love triangle himself, but that was beside the point. God he didn't know how good he had it…

He leaned against the locker in mental exhaustion, only to be shaken by the warning bell signaling class. Just when he was getting comfortable too…

He grabbed his bag and scampered off to class, running into Lancer's room, slightly shocked that Danny was sitting in his seat, looking pain free. That is, until he looked into his eyes, the blue clouded and dull like it was in the aftermath of the torture by his parents. Yeah…he was still in pain.

"Hey dude, didn't expect you to be in class," he whispered as he sat down, glad Valerie wasn't in the room to be there to analyze his entrance. It really wouldn't do for her to hear him act surprised to see him when he promised he'd be there…

"Neither did I," Sam replied, arms crossed as she lounged in her seat.

"I had to go to class," he replied, taking deep, controlled breaths to cover up the dull throbbing ache.

"No…you've skipped class before, so why not just skip another one?"

"That's what I said," Sam added.

"Because then people would know this is serious."

"Which it is," Sam quipped.

"But everyone else can't know that," he replied impatiently. "I've done worse to preserve my secret than this."

"Yeah, and if I recall, that 'worse' was nearly bleeding to death from a cut you got first period and didn't patch up until you got home."

"I still survived."

"That's beside the point!"

"Keep your voice down," Danny hissed. "The point is that everyone saw me in pain and if I leave, that makes it important and that gives me attention that I don't need. If I stay and pretend to be uninjured, then attention lasts for a few hours and then goes away. It's better this way, trust me."

"I still don't like it," Sam replied.

"And you think I do? But I need to stay, especially because of Valerie…"

"Danny…"

"Relax guys, I'm going to be fine, I promise," he smiled, lounging into a more comfortable position in the desk.

"Watch out, here comes Val," Sam warned, seeing her approach the doorway. "I hope you gave her a good excuse…"

"Of course I did," he replied proudly. "It's a pretty good one too if I say so my—"

But he was cut off as they saw Danny wince, muscles tensing and clenching as he shut his eyes tightly in pain, trying so hard not to scream.

"Danny? Danny what's wrong?" Sam hissed.

"Don't…kn-know," he winced, fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white.

"We need to leave," she told him, making to stand but Danny placed a hand on her.

"N-no. I h-have to st-stay."

"No, no you don't. You're in pain and you're not better. We're leaving."

"I c-can't."

"We'll just say you're sick, please Danny," she begged.

"N-no. C-call attention. N-not good."

"Sam…" Tucker sighed, knowing not to bother arguing with him when he got like this. It was that obsessive trait that came from being a ghost, and God did he hate it sometimes…

Sam growled as she leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. She was clearly not happy.

"I'll b-be okay," Danny assured.

"Yeah, mhmm," she replied sarcastically, focusing her attention on the starting lesson, trying to ignore Danny's pained looks beside her as he suffered through class.

* * *

Somehow Danny managed to make it through class, even through the constant pain. More than once Lancer asked if there was anything wrong and if he would like to go to the nurse, but Danny continuously assured him that he was fine, though the assurances began to sound less and less convincing as they became more and more hollow. 

So when the bell finally rang to symbolize the end of first period, Danny was thrilled. He'd suffered through one period, and now there were only…six more to go. So it was only a short-lived triumph, but a triumph nonetheless.

Danny rushed out of the classroom as fast as he could in his hurting state, the eyes of the class following after him like they were expecting him to drop to the floor in agony at any second and prove his assertions false. But he made it outside and to his locker, blowing past everyone quickly as he tried to hide the winces from his stinging pains. He didn't stop until he reached his math class, heaving a sigh of relief. He made it through the crowd without any questions. And while his actions might be construed as suspicious, he was in the classroom and feeling remarkably better. A lot better actually.

And that was how classes were for the next few hours. He would spend the class in little or no pain and put on a very convincing front that everything was all right. Sure he'd have relapses of pain, usually in the hallways where he brushed past people calling out his name to probably get some answers for his strange behavior, answers he was happy to give in the safety of the classroom where he felt fine and put up a convincing appeal.

Tucker and Sam, however, knew better. If Danny was in constant pain then they at least knew something he was near was causing him pain, like a ghost invention or a new ghost security system on the school that caused any ghosts inside to suffer. Of course those ideas had already long since been shut down, but still, a constant pain was something they were familiar with, something they could figure out easier. But a pain that came and went depending on where he was in relation to the school? Now that was a whole different story. They knew the best thing was to talk to Danny's parents because if anyone knew what this was, it was them, but if Danny didn't want it then that was his prerogative. They'd given up arguing with him.

However Jazz, it seemed, hadn't, as demonstrated by her determined march to Danny's table where he was once again pretending that he wasn't feeling the now all-too-familiar searing pain.

"Daniel James Fenton, what is going on?" Jazz hissed sharply, sitting down next to him. "I've been trying to flag you down all day and you just kept brushing past me and everyone else like you have a plague behind you!"

"Nothing," he lied, the pain in his eyes betraying him.

"Don't lie to me Danny, the whole school's talking about it! Something about a Charlie Horse gone awry, which is completely ridiculous I'll have you know."

"Tucker's excuse, not mine," he replied shortly.

"I don't care whose excuse it is, you're the one using it and the blame thus falls to you. Danny, it's not fooling anyone. Nobody believes it! Students spent the first ten minutes of my anatomy class asking the teacher if a Charlie Horse could really do this! I don't know what you're trying to do by staying here Danny but it's not working."

"Oh thank God," Sam sighed. "Someone with some sense."

Danny glared at Sam before tackling his sister's comment. "I can't miss school for non-ghost stuff, you know that."

"Danny, apparently this _is_ a ghost thing! Just go home and get Mom and Dad to fix it!"

"I'm halfway there, I can make it."

"You look like you're about to cry and scream in pain," Jazz replied bluntly, though there was a hint of sympathy.

"Then I'm not hiding it enough," he retorted, steeling his face to the impassive look he had used all day.

"That's not what I'm talking about! You think I care how well you're hiding it? I care about _what_ you're hiding. People go home sick all the time Danny and so can you."

"It'll look suspicious."

"Here we go," Sam and Tucker groaned, both turning to their food. If they never had to hear him use that phrase again it would be far, far too soon.

"Suspicious?" she scoffed. "That's what you're worried about? Suspicion?" Danny nodded in response. "Danny, your refusal to go home is _making_ this suspicious! You could have just said you were sick and gone home! No one would have thought any different!"

"Valerie might have," he replied, casting a wary glance at her sitting two tables away.

"Why would she be suspicious if you went home sick?"

"Because she's crazy right now! She's always on my tail as Phantom, always trying to figure out where it is I go when I'm not fighting a ghost and one slip up is all I need before she figures it out!"

Jazz sighed. She should have known his paranoia was the reason behind his illogical decisions. He was too caught up in his problems with Valerie that it was all he thought about, what he based his decisions off of, for better or for worse. "Danny I promise, Valerie won't think anything of it if you go home sick. Everyone's allowed to be sick without being suspicious of being a ghost. Paulina was sick a couple days ago and did Valerie start calling her a ghost?"

"No," he admitted.

"That's right. So…are you allowed to be sick without being accused of being a ghost?"

"No," he replied, earning a pointed glare from his sister. "Yes."

"Danny please, just go home. Your friends want you to, I want you to, and if Mom and Dad knew about this, they'd want you to as well. Lancer even wants you to! He told me second period!"

"But Valerie…" he protested. He really did like the sound of going home. It admittedly sounded heavenly, getting to rest and stop pretending that he was fine because frankly that was the hardest part of it.

"Valerie won't think anything of it. Tomorrow we can say you went to the doctor and I'll feed them an illness that fits most of your symptoms. I promise, things will be okay."

He looked down at his lap, trying to weigh his options but it was becoming increasingly difficult to think through the pain, and the thought of going home was still looking tantalizingly wonderful…

He nodded in defeat while the other three members of Team Phantom sighed in relief.

"Oh thank God," Sam praised. "Just be sure you add 'loss of judgment' to his symptoms list."

"Very funny," Danny snapped while letting his sister help him stand, the eyes of the students immediately fixing to him.

"Why do they care so much?" Tucker asked under his breath as they walked through the stares of the crowd. Usually Danny's alter-ego was the only one that could stir up that much hype.

"Classic small town syndrome Tucker," Jazz replied. "This school isn't very big and gossip spreads like it does in a small country town. Add to it that the students here experience ghost fights as the norm and you get a restless school that has to get their entertainment somewhere, and that unfortunately becomes gossip."

"I blame Paulina for that," Sam replied bitterly.

"Yes well Paulina or not it still would have happened."

"I'm sure she helped."

"Probably, but small towns go through this all the time. We learned about it in psychology."

"I knew I shouldn't have asked…" Tucker mumbled. Once Jazz said the word 'psychology' it usually signaled their doom…

"Don't care Jazz," Danny replied while Tucker secretly sang praises to him.

She sighed. "Yeah, you never do. Well c'mon Danny, let's get you home," Jazz told him sympathetically, helping him slowly walk out of the cafeteria and towards the nurse. Hopefully once he got home their parents would be able to find a cure for him, because he sure looked like he needed it…

* * *

A/N: So I know it was nothing glamorous or exciting or unbelievable or worthy of your wait and I profusely apologize for that as well, but it couldn't be helped. I was in that wonderful conundrum where I had to stop the chapter here otherwise the next one wouldn't be long enough, but they were both too long combined to make a chapter so…yeah. Unfortunately the next one may be a lot like this one with a lot of explanation of what's going on to the characters (something most of you may know because I knew not to be foolish enough to try and hide it XD) but the characters still don't know and that has to come at some point… . 

Anywho, here's hoping it wasn't too terribly horrid ; I'm not particularly too happy with it (if the paragraph above didn't show that enough) but like I said, it was necessary so…I'm sorry if it's not up to my usual standards.

See you next update (which _will_ be sooner, I swear!)

Oh, and for more notes and updates on other stuff including Phantom Planet, the location of my stories in the official 3 season DP timeline and just other additions to my General Beliefs, see my profile because they've all been updated while I was away!


	6. Red Herring

A/N: Two years. Yeah...it's been two years... Words cannot even describe how sorry I am for postponing this story for so long. I honestly don't know what happened. It hasn't seemed that long to me even though the dates tell me otherwise. Time seems to fly by me so much that half the time I don't even know where it's gone and free-time that I thought I had has since disappeared. I really misunderstood the kind of time restraints that my final years of college would take on me and I'm so sorry that those restraints had to make you all suffer too. I really hope you can find it in you to forgive a poor author who's bitten off far more than she has the time to chew. Hopefully I can use this chapter as a peace offering to regain some of your trust and fandom back. It is a rather long one, which may be why it took me so long to write...

Also, I just thought I'd let you all know that just in case this kind of lapse happens ever again, I will not just abandon this story and not let you know about it. _If_ it ever happens - and I'm using this as a _huge_ if - I will let you know. I will post a chapter with all my notes and plans for the progress of the story so you will know that it isn't going to be finished. Until you see that chapter come, if it ever does, then assume that it is still in the works and that an update will come sometime that decade XD Okay...maybe not decade, but you get my point ;)

And one more point before I let you get to the chapter you've been waiting two years for. If you're ever wondering about my status if I pull one of these absentee things again, I do update my profile occasionally with what's been going on (like my recent graduation :) ) and I also update my deviantArt account. I'm Darth-Frodo for anyone that's got a dA account and if you tell me you're from this site I'll even watch you too XD I tend to update those in regards to my status and the status of my fics, so if you're ever curious where I am or why I've been absent, those are generally good places to look :)

Alright, enough prattle. Onto the chapter! Enjoy!

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* * *

Chapter Six  
Red Herring**

Danny was surprisingly silent as Jazz drove quickly back to the house. They all expected him to be complaining and moaning the entire ride about how suspicious it would look and how everyone had watched him leave with murmured whispers, but they heard nothing from the side passenger's seat. They assumed that he was okay now since he hadn't made any indication of pain or discomfort while in the car, but instead of relieving them like it should have, it made them even more worried. It meant that there was something at the school that was aggravating his condition and they knew that until they identified what it was, Danny couldn't return to the school.

"You're so lucky," Tucker griped. "You have a total 'get out of school free' card that your parents will actually believe!"

"I don't know if I'd necessarily use the word lucky…" Danny replied quietly.

"Why not? You don't have to do homework or listen to boring lectures—"

"Or take tests that I need to pass the class?" he interrupted sharply.

"…Or that…" he finished with a blush.

Jazz sighed. "Danny, it's not going to be that bad. You can make up for it later. It's not like when you're absent from a ghost attack or something like that. This is a medical reason so you should be able to make anything that you've missed up," she explained patiently.

"I'd rather just have a normal school experience and not have to worry about it at all," he griped.

"Well we all know that isn't going to happen so there's no point in wishing that it would now is there?"

"I know that," Danny retorted. "I'm just getting a little annoyed is all…"

"And we understand that Danny," Sam comforted. "That's why we're all here for you, one hundred percent."

"Yeah, I know."

"Don't worry, I'm sure Mom and Dad will be able to figure out what's going on. Who knows, maybe Dad tried out that new version of the Specter Deflector on you after all?" Jazz suggested. The rest of the car groaned.

"God, if he actually did that I'm going to murder him," Danny grumbled and Sam and Tucker couldn't help agree. If all this was for something as stupid as the new and improved Specter Deflector there was going to be some definite exploding towards the Fenton patriarch.

Jazz pulled up in the driveway and shut the car off. She offered to help Danny inside but he abruptly informed her that he wasn't an invalid and he could walk into the house just fine.

Unfortunately the sound of a car pulling up outside the house must have intrigued the elder female Fenton and she went outside to investigate, though her expression of curiosity turned to one of concern and irritation as she saw not only her children out of school, but Sam and Tucker as well.

"Daniel James and Jazmine Alice, what are the two of you doing out of school, and with the two of them too?!" she yelled, pointing to Sam and Tucker. "You had better not be ditching! You know you can't afford to do that!"

"Mom, do you really think that I would come _home_ if I were ditching?" Danny simply asked.

"Well, no…I suppose not…so then what are you doing here?"

"Inside Mom, please," Jazz asked quietly. She had already caused enough of a fuss with her yelling and she didn't want to attract any more attention than necessary.

She sighed. "Fine, fine," she acquiesced, walking into the house while the rest followed behind her. "So what is all this about?" she questioned, now in the safety of their home. "Is this some ghost related thing?"

"When isn't it a ghost related thing?" Sam groaned in response.

"So true," Maddie replied with a sigh. "But what happened? Why did you have to leave school?"

"We…we don't really know," Jazz answered lamely.

"We were kinda hoping you'd have an idea," Tucker replied.

"See Danny he—"

"I'm right here," he groaned. He may have been injured but he could speak for himself. Sam however, decided to keep right on going.

"—was all fine when he got to school and then he just started looking like he was in pain and trying hard not to scream so I rushed him to an unused classroom and then he started to feel better. So Danny decided that since he was feeling better he could go back to class but once he got back in he was in pain again. It happened like that all day. Sometimes he'd be in pain, sometimes he wouldn't be."

"It was annoying," Danny finished, feeling he needed to have some say in the story of his day.

"How bad was the pain Danny?" Maddie asked.

"What scale do you want? Numerical or exemplar?"

"Hmm…exemplar."

"On average, worse than an ecto-blast but less than a Specter Deflector."

"And at its peak?"

"Worse than a Specter Deflector."

"Hmm…" Maddie murmured, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "And this…it wasn't localized to any one spot around the school was it?"

"No, that's what we thought was so weird about it," Tucker answered.

"We were wondering if the school actually got around to installing those ghost shields like they've been talking about," Jazz offered.

"No…we were talking to Lancer about installing them, though of course we were going to install some that didn't work for your safety Danny, and it's not like there's another manufacturer we could go to… We could check it out though…your father and I…"

"Yeah and speaking of him, what does his new Specter Deflector look like?"

"His new and improved one?" He nodded in response. "It looks just like the old one except—do you honestly think this is your father's doing?"

"I don't know but it just felt like a much more intense one…"

"Danny, I know he may be a little…overbearing, but he'd never do something like this for a whole school day!" Maddie assured him.

"I know that. I'm just…putting it out there, because really, that's what it felt like."

"Well…I'll ask him but I think we're better off looking for a different explanation."

"In the mean time, I think Danny should go upstairs to bed," Jazz suggested.

"What? No!" Danny protested.

"I think that's a good idea," Maddie agreed.

"Oh come on Mom! I feel fine! I'm not anywhere near the school so I'm good now!"

"Well I don't really want to take any chances. We don't know what lingering effects this device has."

"Um…none?"

"Just go upstairs and get some rest," she ordered with motherly authority.

He groaned but went upstairs anyway, admittedly feeling a little tired after the day's events. Besides, after all the suffering Valerie had been putting his ghost half through lately, he wouldn't object to getting a few extra hours of sleep that he never seemed to get at night. His friends followed after him, always loyally following their friend through whatever he had to go through, even if it was just napping after a torturous day at school.

"You guys don't have to hang out here and watch me sleep," Danny told them as he climbed into his bed.

"Whoever said we were going to just watch you sleep?" Tucker asked as he hopped onto his friend's computer, password protection not stopping the techno-whiz.

"Nothing illegal," Danny groaned as he lay his head on his pillow gratefully.

"Illegal? Me?" Tucker asked innocently. "Do you honestly think I would do something illegal?"

"Last time you ended up hacking into the Pentagon, and from _my_ computer."

"Well…yeah…but it _was_ informative. We wouldn't have known about Technus' attack on the government information server otherwise."

"No hacking on my computer," he stated firmly. "You want to hack into the Pentagon, be my guest, but on your own PDA."

"Take all the fun out of it…" he grumbled.

Danny rolled his eyes as he settled down into his bed, closing his eyes with a satisfied sigh. This wasn't actually too bad, and it was definitely a good idea to head home, though he would never tell anyone else that. Catching up on some much-needed sleep, resting his sore and aching muscles in a relatively pain-free zone with only the lingering aches to trouble him…oh yeah, much better than remaining at school.

But his relaxation didn't last for long as he was interrupted by a large jump-suited man barging into his room. "Danny! Danny my boy, I heard what happened from your mom and I know who did it!"

That certainly got his attention. He opened his eyes and sat up, eying up his proud father. "What are you talking about?"

"I know who did it!"

"…How?" he asked skeptically. Sure his dad was a genius in his own eccentric way, but he was never one for brilliant detective work and deductions.

"What do you mean how? I heard what your mom said and I figured it out! What, you don't think I did?"

"What? No I just…so you know who did it?"

"Of course I know who did it! There's only one devious enough to do something like this…"

"Vlad?"

"No no no. The Guys in White!"

"The GiW?" Danny asked in bewilderment as he cocked an eyebrow. "Dad, they're completely incompetent."

"And that's being generous," Sam piped up.

"Oh come on! It's gotta be them!"

"Your father has some good points," Maddie assured her disbelieving son. "Jack, tell them what you told me downstairs."

"Alright, so your mom said Jazz mentioned something about some school ghost equipment, which is silly because we never installed anything. They haven't even asked in awhile…" he pouted. "But then that got me thinking…we're not the only ones. I mean sure, FentonWorks is the _best_, but we're not the _only_ ones. The school could have gone to someone else…and they're the only other ones that work on ghost weapons and equipment."

"And it would make sense to go to them," Maddie added. "Sadly they're a government run program and the school is a public school. Why would the school district contract out to a company when there's a government agency that will do it for them?"

"Because we're better…" Jack sulked.

"Don't mind your father; he's just bitter at not getting asked," Maddie smiled, earning a smile back from her son.

"I'm not bitter! This is what FentonWorks _does_! We make stuff to fight off ghosts! And we're the best! And we were here first! They should have come to us first!"

"Whatever dear. But regardless, your father and I are going to go check out the school when everyone leaves for the day and see if they actually put anything in place. We'll let you know what we find."

Danny nodded. "Thanks Mom, thanks Dad."

"No problem sweetheart," she smiled. "Now you get some rest."

"I will." That rest was starting to sound better and better…

They left Danny and his friends to rest, Jack still muttering about how the Guys in White had stolen their thunder and how it was their turf while Maddie interjected the necessary "Yes dear" when needed. Danny smiled, imagining the fit his father would throw if he did indeed find GiW equipment in the school. He let those thoughts guide him into an easy, and much-needed sleep.

* * *

It was with blurry eyes and a groggy mind that Danny awoke later that afternoon, waiting for his eyes to focus before reading the time on the clock. They finally worked through their haze and made out the red lines that spelled out 3:42. Three forty-two…really? He had slept that long?

"Wow, sleeping beauty's finally awake," Sam commented as she set some of her homework down.

"You mean sleeping ugly," Tucker chuckled, still at the computer.

"Very funny," Danny added as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah come on Tucker, be a little nice to him."

"That was a little nice," he mumbled.

Danny let out a yawn with a stretch before falling back onto his bed, still in the process of waking up from his extended nap. "Did I really sleep for three hours?"

"Yeah, and like a log too. You were totally out."

"Wow…I must have really needed that catch-up sleep."

"I told you you there was something wrong with you," Sam gloated. "Aren't you glad you called in sick now?"

"It's not because I was in pain," Danny protested. "It's all the sleep I haven't been getting because of Valerie. But speaking of pain, are there any leads?"

"No," Sam sighed. "Your parents are still at the school probably tearing it apart. It'll be a wonder if there's going to be a school to attend tomorrow at the way they're going at it."

"Wow. I don't know if that'll make me even more of a loser or actually raise my popularity a couple of points…" Danny deadpanned.

"It'll raise it for the couple days it'll take to get the school fixed but then after that you're going to be more unpopular than before," Tucker chuckled, but his grinning expression turned to alarm as he heard a short cry of pain from the bed as his friend curled up in the fetal position, body tense face contorted in anguish.

"Danny!" they both cried as they rushed over to him.

"What's going on?"

"Is it a ghost?"

"Is it the same thing as before?"

"Same…as b-before," he grunted, his face screwed up as he tried to contain any further vocalizations of pain. Now free from the social pressures of school Sam and Tucker could really see how much this periodic pain was hurting him. It reminded them of watching him after the torture only months ago and here they were again, powerless to stop his pain.

"Do you want me to go get Jazz?" Sam asked.

"What good would she do?" Tucker asked. "She'd just probably annoy him."

"Because she's smarter than the three of us combined and thinks medical stuff is fun. She might know something to do about this!"

"Go…go get h-her," Danny requested, his arms now curling around his abs as the muscles clenched painfully. His body was on fire. His skin burned and his blood boiled. Heat lingered in his bones and seared his muscles. And yet for all the burning he was shivering like he was cold. God, what was happening to him?

It only took a few moments for Jazz to join them in the room. Hearing that her brother was once again in pain from an unknown source made a girl rush to his side. She was immediately beside him, her hand on his shoulder in worry. This scene looked so familiar to her, as it was only a few months earlier that she was comforting her brother from intense pain in this very room, only last time they had known what the problem was whereas this time they were lost.

"Danny? Danny you have to tell me what it feels like. Is it in the stomach? In the chest? Where is it?"

"All over," he gasped, eyes squeezed tight against the pain. He was panting hard to keep his cries of pain under wraps.

She sighed. "That's what everyone says but it's not going to help. You need to tell me exactly where or else I can't help you!"

"N-no it…it _is_ everywhere. I'm…I'm on fire! I'm b-burning and…and c-cramping and it…it hurts!"

"So it's like a Charlie Horse all over your body?" Tucker asked. "Ha! See, it was a good excuse!"

Jazz just rolled her eyes and moved her hands onto Danny's shoulders, starting to massage them gently. "Does this help at all?" she asked. But apparently it didn't as Danny let out a yelp at the contact and quickly jerked out of her hands. "What did I do? You have to talk to me!" Jazz pleaded in almost a panic.

"M-my skin it…it burns! It burns! Don't t-touch me!" he cried out as he thrashed in bed, his breathing quickening with fresh pain.

"Alright…I guess not. It's obviously not just his muscles…" She sat for some time in thought before finally seeming to come to a decision on what to do about her suffering brother. "Sam, Tucker, one of you go get some warm cloths and heating pads. We're going to try and soften his muscles and get them to relax."

"N-no!" Danny protested. "No…touching!"

"I'm sorry Danny, but it'll help, I promise! You're frigid and your muscles are cramping. The warm water and heating pads will help with that; you're just going to have to deal with the rest."

He bit his lip against the prospect of more pain, tears blossoming in her eyes, but he nodded in resolute acceptance. Jazz sighed, feeling bad causing her brother more pain, but it had to be done and they both knew it. "The other one—" But she was interrupted by a doorbell ringing downstairs and she groaned. What horrible timing… "Alright, the other one stay up here. I'm going to get the door and make whoever it is go away."

Sam elected to go find the heating pads and she and Jazz both headed downstairs, leaving Tucker to try and comfort the tormented Danny the best he could. "Well…I guess your parents can stop tearing the school apart, since whatever's causing this isn't there. Guess you won't get your two days of popularity after all," he joked weakly, though he was happy to see Danny's lips twitch in a slight smile before settling back into their pained expression. "Don't worry, we'll figure out what's going on. You've got a lot of smart people trying to figure out what's going on, and that's not even including me." Again, another fraction of a smile.

Tucker had another hopefully cheering statement ready when he heard Jazz clear her throat from the doorway behind him. "Danny, you have a visitor," she told him, trying to sound polite but it was clear that she didn't approve of any visitors being present at the moment.

Danny looked up and froze as he saw a dark, wavy-haired girl walk into the room with a bowl of soup, a folder, and a comforting smile.

Valerie.

Oh no. Oh no oh no. Danny felt his heart clench in fear as he started to panic, which wasn't helping his agony at all which seemed to, if possible, have gotten worse. Why did she have to be here now of all times? She never visited his house, and yet now, when this weird ghostly problem was going on, she decided to show up. Great. As if things weren't already excruciating and stressful enough, now he had to add Valerie and her suspicions to the mix. Just great…

"Um…h-hey Danny," she greeted with a weak smile as she moved closer to the bed, obviously not expecting him to be in this much pain when she decided to visit. "I um…I did the really lame thing and brought you some soup. I don't really know if soup's good for a…Charlie horse" she stated, clearly not believing that to be the excuse seeing him curled up and whimpering in his bed "but my mom would always make it for me and I figured I might as well."

"Thank…thank you," he thanked weakly. He forced himself into a sitting position, but Valerie stopped him after hearing his sharp gasp.

"You don't have to eat it now Danny," she told him, and he looked relieved to hear it. He lay back down and closed his eyes, his breaths shallow and forced. "God Danny, you look terrible. You weren't this bad at school."

"It's…worse…" he labored, each word sounding like a struggle.

"Yeah…I yeah I kinda noticed. Well I uh, I brought your homework for you. I know it's probably the last thing you want to think about being sick and all, but I figured I'd might as well…"

"Th-thanks," he managed, though it honestly was the last thing he was thinking about. He never really thought about his homework, and now was certainly no exception. "That's…really—"

"—Really unnecessary," Sam interrupted as she returned to the room, ice packs and wet cloths in her arms. "Tucker and I could have gotten them for him too," she snapped, not even bothering to hide her disdain.

"And how would you have gotten the homework you all missed today?" Valerie asked, now mirroring Sam's rude tone.

"The easy way; by asking a friend."

"So what, I'm not a friend anymore?"

"Anymore? What do you mean anymore? You were _never_ a friend."

"Girls…please," Danny pleaded with a grimace. The last thing he wanted was to make both halves of Valerie mad at him. He knew Sam was just protecting him and trying to get her to leave, but this was hardly the way to go about it. He preferred a method that didn't end in him losing his friend.

Sam and Valerie exchanged an evil glance, one that clearly demonstrated that the only reason they were stopping was because Danny asked. Sam brushed past her roughly and went over to Danny's side where she started plugging heating pads into an outlet strip. "Where do you want these Danny?"

"I d-don't."

"Heat pads go on the abdomen and upper legs and cloths on his arms and forehead," Jazz instructed with a sigh.

"N-no…p-please…" he pleaded, his voice filled with fear at the anguish that would come.

"Danny, you know you have to do this," Jazz sighed sympathetically. She gestured for Sam to hand her the heating pads and cloths. Sam gave them over gladly, relieved to be free from the responsibility of causing her friend more pain. She plugged in the heating pads goaded her little brother to uncurl. She helped him slowly, her heart clenching at every gasp or groan of pain he made from the movement. Finally he was lying flat and she was able to place the pads gently on the covers over his body. He hissed sharply at the added pressure on his sore body but it looked to be bearable.

"Alright, now for the cloths," she stated and from Danny's wince she could tell that these were going to hurt more. "I'm sorry Danny," she apologized before setting the cloths as gently as possible on his arm.

Despite present company Danny howled in pain as the hot fabric connected with his skin. He thrashed in the bed in pain as Jazz struggled to keep the heating pads on him. "Danny! Danny stop! They have to stay on!" she pleaded, and it seemed to stop his thrashing for the most part. She applied another to his other arm and forehead, which earned further cries as tears streamed down his face.

Jazz bit her lip and placed a very light kiss on her brother's cheek, her heart aching to see him in such pain. "I'm so proud of you," she whispered into his ear. "We'll find out what's going on soon enough."

Valerie stood transfixed, feeling quite awkward being in the room while Danny was in such agony. Something was obviously going on here, and while part of her thought she was being kept in the dark, the rest of her thought that the others were just as clueless as she was. "I really don't think it's a Charlie Horse," she finally remarked and Danny's three caretakers looked at her with varying degrees of guilt.

"We really don't know what it is," Jazz finally announced, her voice ringing with authority. "And I think it might be best if you head out now. I don't think Danny's really in the mood for visitors at the moment." Danny may not be bold enough to tell Valerie that he didn't want to see anyone right now, but she had no problems.

Valerie wanted to point out that Tucker and Sam were still staying, but she knew there always was and was always going to be a double standard when it came to Danny's two best friends. "Yeah, I can tell," she conceded, knowing it was best just not to argue. "Feel better soon Danny," she smiled before heading outside courtesy of Jazz.

As soon as Valerie was out of earshot Sam let out a sigh of relief. "Well thank God she's finally gone. It's bad enough trying to figure out what's going on without _her_ getting in the way. And who does she think she is anyway? Getting Danny's homework like that," she scoffed. "Like we aren't capable enough to get it for him ourselves."

"Maybe she's just concerned?" Tucker suggested with a shrug.

"She's not concerned. She just wants to worm her way into our little group because her life's falling to pieces and we're unfortunately the only pieces she managed to hold onto."

"Well…that's a really good metaphor…"

"Oh shut up Tucker."

"Alright, the damage looks minimal," Jazz announced as she returned. "She didn't seem suspicious after I told her we have no idea what's going on – because that's the truth – but I promised to let her know as soon as we know, which means we need to think of a cover story."

"You mean _you_ need to think of a cover story," Tucker clarified. "I tried making up a medical cover story and I've gotten nothing besides becoming the center of ridicule.."

"You said it was a Charlie Horse Tucker," Sam stated matter of factly. "Of course we're going to ridicule you for that."

"It was a pretty bad cover," Jazz admitted.

Tucker groaned. "And see, this is why I'm not coming up with the next one!"

"Guys…can you please stop…arguing?" Danny requested from the bed. "It's making my head hurt."

They all apologized quietly while Jazz sat beside her brother. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"A…a little better. It's not as…not as painful."

"I told you the heat would work," his sister smiled knowingly.

"It's not…it's not that," he argued, his voice sounding stronger. "It's…it's hard to-to explain, but it doesn't h-hurt as much. And not just the muscles but…everything."

Jazz sighed. "Well the periodic pain strikes again. And now it's not even at the school, which means Mom and Dad being there is pointless. I'll go call them and tell them to come home."

* * *

Jack and Maddie were relieved to hear that whatever was hurting their son wasn't at the school, though for different reasons. Maddie was happy because that meant that one possibility of many was at least marked off, meaning they were getting closer, but Jack was happy because the occurrence of pain outside the school meant that the school hadn't contracted out to another ghost hunter and the Fentons were still the main ghost hunters in Amity. As soon as they received the information they turned around to head home, back to the son that needed them, and they brainstormed the whole way back.

"Well, now we're one theory short," Maddie announced as she walked into her son's room. "The school seemed like such a plausible one too…"

"Yeah, I know," Jazz sighed.

"How are you doing sweetheart?" Maddie asked as she hovered over her son, checking temperatures and fixing covers.

"Better actually." He was sitting up now, no longer huddled and curled up in pain, and his skin felt closer to his usual temperature. "It's the whole 'come and go' thing. Right now we're on 'go'."

"Well that's good to hear," Maddie smiled. "Though I will say that makes it more interesting. It's not like there should be anything here that would set him off. It's not a ghost because then Danny's ghost sense would go off, and it's not a weapon because we don't have any in the house that do something like this, and it's not something already in his body because then it would either be constant or he would get these episodes on a steady basis. So what is it?"

"If only we knew," Jazz sighed.

"Maybe there's something in his backpack? That's the only thing that's been with him both at school and here," Sam suggested.

"That was the first thing we checked," Maddie explained. "There's nothing ghostly about it, though I suppose we could check it again just to make sure. I'm really running out of options here…"

"Well at least that'll be easier to do without Valerie here," Tucker added.

Sam groaned. "Don't even mention her."

"What do you mean?" Maddie asked.

"Valerie stopped by," Danny explained, and his friends looked much more relieved to notice that his voice didn't sound as pained as before. "She wanted to give me some soup and my homework," he chuckled weakly. "What a great combination."

"So she…she was here?" Maddie could feel it, that rising anticipation as she was on the cusp of an answer. It was partly why she became a scientist because she lived for the thrill of just making a new discovery or piecing something together like no one had before, and now was no different.

"Yeah, she left a couple minutes before we called you. I don't think she's suspicious at all though. I think we managed to keep her suspicions at bay for the time being."

"That's my boy!" Jack congratulated. "Always thinking smart."

"Well…I actually didn't really do anything… It was everyone else that really answered her questions. If anything I made her _more_ suspicious, screaming and thrashing around like I was."

"Oh…well then good job for finding such good friends to think smart for you! That's my boy!"

"Was it really that bad sweetie?" Maddie asked in concern.

"Yeah…almost worse than it had been at school, though I really don't know why. But it really hurt."

There it was, that final confirmation. That last piece of information to confirm her ideas. It all made sense now and she couldn't believe that she hadn't seen it before. "I…I think I got it…" she blurted out. Everyone's eyes immediately turned to her with varying shades of hope and confusion.

"What do you mean Mom?" Jazz questioned.

"It's…it's Valerie."

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked in confusion.

"Valerie's the one causing the pain."

The room was silent for a moment before Danny spoke again. "Come on Mom, it can't be Valerie. Why would she want to hurt me?"

"She doesn't want to hurt _you_, but she does want to hurt Phantom."

"Of course!" Jazz cried, realization coming to her as well. "Oh I should have seen it sooner!"

"I think we all should have."

"Wait wait, I'm still confused," Danny stated. "How can she be hurting me? She doesn't have the ability to do something like this! I mean, it takes hi-tech ghost technology to be able to do this! How would she get something like this?"

"I don't know Danny, but it has to be her. You hurt at school because she was there, and it changed in intensity based on her proximity to you. And just now you started to hurt again because she came over. The facts are all there Danny," Maddie emphasized. "She's got something on her person that's doing this to you."

Danny had to admit that it did make sense, and his mom did know this stuff. But it still bothered him where she could have gotten the device that made him hurt so badly. Sure his parents had the Specter Deflectors that hurt pretty bad upon touch, but something that could hurt this bad based on distance alone? That had to take some skill in ghost weapon manufacturing, skill that Valerie didn't have. So where did she get it?

* * *

There was an odd silence amongst the manor house. It wasn't unpleasant or awkward, but filled with apprehension, excitement, and satisfied vindication. It mirrored perfectly the feelings of its master who was currently in his study, watching the progress of his plan unfold on his laptop.

"Ah Daniel, if only you knew what was in store for you," Vlad chuckled deviously. "You think it hurts now but just wait. Pain is not the only thing you will have to worry about, oh no."

He stood from his chair and hovered near a fire in his fireplace, a glass of brandy in his hand. "You think I would let the events of our last meeting go without revenge?" he asked aloud in increasing frustration. "You think I would not seek some sort of vengeance for ruining my chances for your mother? You think I would just sit idly by whilst your mother's contempt for me breeds further, and by your careful pruning?!" he yelled as he threw his glass into the fire.

"Well, my revenge has come," he growled, the firelight reflecting off his face and his eyes blazing a frightening uniform red. "Now you too will know how I feel. You too shall feel the pain of a huntress scorned. An eye for an eye, as I like to say. An eye for an eye…"

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, this chapter didn't really reveal anything that you probably hadn't already figured out, but it was never my intent to really try and keep it a mystery so this was more for plot advancement and character knowledge. Hopefully it was worth the wait! ::fingerscrossed::


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